//.  /  - 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.     N.    J. 


Presented  by 


* 

"TheVVidov^    of  Greorde'Duo'^n,     % 

Dwision.0&'5.ACl^\' 


Section..\.Lr..jLl  *> 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/bookofjonah146klei 


\ 


A 


COMMENTARY 


ON    THE 


HOLY    SCRIPTURES: 

CRITICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND  HOMILETICAL 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  MINISTERS  AND  STUDENT8 


JOHN   PETEELATOE,  D.  D., 

ORDINARY  PROFESSOR  OP  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OP   BONW, 
Of  cowwbotioic  with  a  number  of  eminent  eckopean  divines 


TRANSLATED,   ENLARGED,   AND  EDITED 


PHILIP   SCHAFF,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR   OF  THEOLOGY   IN  THE   UNION   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.   NEW   YORK, 
II     OOIHIKCTION     WITH     AMERICAH     SCHOLARS     OF     VARIOUS     EVANGELICAL     DENOMIHATIOm. 


VOL miE  XIV.  OV  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT:  CONTAINING  THE  MINOR  PROPHETS 


NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

1899 


THE 


MINOR  PROPHETS 


EXEGET1CALLY,  THEOLOGICALLY.   AND   HOMILETICALLY 


EXPOUNDED 


PAXIL   KLEINERT,   OTTO   SCHMOLLER, 

GEORGE   R.  BLISS,  TALBOT  W.  CHAMBERS,   CHARLES  ELLICTT, 

JOHN   FORSYTH,  J.  FREDERICK   McCURDY,   AND 

JOSEPH    PACKARD. 


EDITED  BY 

PHILIP   SCHAFF,  D.  D. 


NEW   YORK: 

CHARLES     SCEIBNER'S     SONS, 

1899 


Sttered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  vear  1874,  Or 

Scrihnkr,  Armstrong,  and  Company, 
a  toe  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Trow's 
Printing  and  Bookbinding  Company, 
205-213  East  \2tf1  St., 

NEW    YORK. 


PREFACE  BY  THE   GENERAL  EDITOR 


The  volume  on  the  Minor  Prophets  is  partly  in  advance  of  the  German  original, 
which  has  not  yet  reached  the  three  post-exilian  Prophets.  The  commentaries  on  the  nint 
earlier  Prophets  by  Professors  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  appeared  in  separate  numberi 
some  time  ago * ;  but  for  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi,  Dr.  Lange  has  not,  to  this  date, 
been  able  to  secure  a  suitable  co-laborer.2  With  his  cordial  approval  I  deem  it  better  to 
complete  the  volume  by  original  commentaries  than  indefinitely  to  postpone  the  publication. 
They  were  prepared  by  sound  and  able  scholars,  in  conformity  with  the  plan  of  the  whole 
work. 

The  volume  accordingly  contains  the  following  parts,  each  one  being  paged  separately :  — 

1.  A  General  Introduction  to  the  Prophets,  especially  the  Minor  Prophets,  by 
Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  The 
general  introductions  of  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  are  too  brief  and  incomplete  for  our  purpose, 
and  therefore  I  requested  Dr.  Elliott  to  prepare  an  independent  essay  on  the  subject. 

2.  Hose  a.  By  Rev.  Dr.  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  from  the  German  and  en- 
larged by  James  Frederick  McCurdy,  M.  A.,  of  Princeton.  N.  J. 

3.  Joel.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  John  Forsyth, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Chaplain  and  Professor  of  Ethics  and  Law  in  the  United  States  Military 
Academy,  West  Point,  N.  Y. 

4.  Amos.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  Talbot  W 
Chambers,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 

5.  Obadiah.  By  Rev.  Paul  Kleinert,  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Theology  in  the 
University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  George  R.  Bliss,  D.  D.,  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Lewisburg,  Pennsylvania. 

6.  Jonah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  the  University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  en- 
larged by  Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago.' 

7.  Micah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  George  R.  Bliss,  of  Lewis- 
burg. 

8.  Nahum.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  Charles  Elliott,  of 
Chicago. 

9.  Habakkuk.     By  Professors  Kleinert  and  Elliott. 

1  Obadjah,  Jonah,  Mic/ia,  Nahum,  Habakuk,  Zephanjah.  Wlssenshaftlieh  undfUr  den  Gebraueh  der  Kirehe  autgeltgt  «w» 
PAUL  Kleinbbt,  Pfarrer  zu  St.  Gertraud  und  a.  Professor  an  der  Universitdt  zu  Berlin.  Bielefeld  u.  Leipzig,  1868.  —  DU 
Prophetcn  Hosea,  Joel  und  Amos.  Theologisch-homiletisch  bearbeitet  von  Otto  Sckmollsb,  Licent.  der  Theologie,  Diaeonut 
m  Uracil.  Bielef.  und  Leipzig,  1872. 

2  The  commentary  of  Rev.  W.  Pbbssel  on  these  three  Prophets  (Die  nachexilisehen  Propheten,  Gotha,  1870)  waj 
originally  prepared  for  Lange's  Bible-work,  but  was  rejected  by  Dr.  Lange  mainly  on  account  of  Pressel's  views  on  th* 
genuineness  and  integrity  of  Zechariah.  It  was,  however,  independently  published,  and  was  made  use  of,  like  other 
commentaries,  by  the  authors  of  the  respective  sections  in  this  volume. 

<  Or.  Elliott  desires  to  render  his  acknowledgments  to  the  Rev.  Reuben  Dederiok,  of  Chicago,  and  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Lotke,  of  Faribault,  Minnesota,  for  valuable  assistance  in  translating  some  difficult  passages  In  Kleinert^  GommentuiM 
■o  Jonah,  Nahum,  and  Habakkuk. 


PREFACE   BY   THE   GENERAL   EDITOR. 


10.  Zephaniah.     By  Professors  Klein  ert  and  Elliott. 

11.  Haggai.     By  James  Frederick  McCurdy,  M.  A.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

12.  Zechariah  By  Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  New  York.  (See  special 
preface.) 

18.  Malachi.  By  Rev.  Joseph  Packard,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

The  contributors  to  this  volume  were  directed  carefully  to  consult  the  entire  ancient  and 
modern  literature  on  the  Minor  Prophets  and  to  enrich  it  with  the  latest  results  of  German 
and  Anglo-American  scholarship. 

The  remaining  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  all  under  way,  and  will  be  published  ai 
fast  as  the  nature  of  the  work  will  permit. 

PHILIP   SCHAPF. 

Ohton  Tksolookuj   Semhaty,  Nrw  You.  .  t*uary,  1874. 


THE 


BOOK   OF  JONAH. 


EXPOUNDED 


r 

PAUL  KLEUSTEKT, 


PAATOR  AT   ST.  QERTRAUD,  AND   PROFESSOR  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  TH  BO LOOT  W 
UNIVERSITY  OF   BERLIN. 


TRANSLATED  AND    ENLARGED 


CHARLES  ELLIOTT,  D.  D., 

Or  BIBLICAL  LITXRATUflE  IX  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  THEOLOGICAL  8EMIWART  AT  CHICAOO, 


NEW   YORK: 
CHARLES     SCRIBNER'S     SONS, 


■itered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  hf 

sckiknek,  Armstrong,  and  Company, 
hi  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


JONAH. 


INTRODUCTION. 

I.   Contents. 

The  prophet  Jonah,  the  son  of  Arnittai,  receives  a  divine  command  to  announce  judg- 
ment against  the  great  city,  Nineveh,  whose  wickedness  had  come  up  before  Jehovah.  He 
attempts  to  evade  the  command  by  flight,  and  embarks  in  a  ship  to  go  to  Tarshish.  A  storm 
rises  on  the  sea.  While  the  crew  are  praying,  Jonah  sleeps.  But  he  is  awakened ;  and  the 
sailors  perceiving  in  the  fury  \_UribiU~]  of  the  storm  a  token  of  the  divine  wrath,  cist  lots,  by 
which  he  is  designated  as  the  guilty  person.  On  being  interrogated  by  the  crew,  he 
acknowledges  to  them  his  guilt,  and  advises  them  to  cast  him  into  the  sea,  for  the  purpose 
of  appeasing  the  divine  anger.  They  put  forth  ineffectual  efforts  to  escape  from  danger, 
without  having  recourse  to  this  extreme  measure,  but  finally  follow  his  advice.     (Chap,  i.) 

A  large  fish  swallows  Jonah.  He  thanks  God  that  he  is  preserved  in  life  ;  and  is,  on  the 
third  day,  vomited  out  by  the  fish  on  the  land.      (Chap,  ii.) 

He  now  obeys  the  command  of  God,  which  comes  to  him  the  second  time,  and  goes  tc 
proclaim  to  Nineveh,  that  within  forty  days,  it  shall  be  destroyed  on  account  of  its  sins. 
But  the  Ninevites,  with  the  king  at  their  head,  observe  a  great  public  fast,1  and  Jehovah 
determines  to  withdraw  his  threatening.      (Chap,  iii.) 

Jonah  having  waited  for  the  issue  in  a  booth  over  against  the  city,  must  have  felt  that  the 
effect  [of  the  divine  purpose  to  remit  the  calamity.  —  C.  E.]  would  be  to  make  his  procla- 
mation appear  false.  His  displeasure,  on  this  account,  is  heightened  by  an  incident.  A 
plant  [a  palmchrist],  which  had  rapidly  shot  up,  had  refreshed  him  with  its  shade.  But 
during  the  night  it  is  destroyed  by  a  worm ;  and  when,  on  the  day  following,  a  scorching 
wind  augments  the  burning  heat  of  the  sun,  Jonah  despairs  of  life  ["  meint  Jonah  am  Leben 
verzweifeln  zu  miissen,"  thinks  that  he  must  despair  of  life].  But  God  had  appointed  this 
incident  for  the  purpose  of  showing  him  the  unreasonableness  of  his  displeasure.  "  Dost 
thou  have  pity  on  an  insignificant  plant,  and  shall  not  I  have  pity  on  the  great  city  ?  " 
(Chap,  iv.) 

H.    The  Historical  Character  of  the  Book. 

The  narrative  indicates  history  ;  for  it  designates  its  hero,  not  by  a  general  or  symbolical, 
but  by  a  historical  name,  —  that  of  Jonah.  And  not  merely  this;  but  it  subjoins  a  patro- 
nymic also,  "  the  son  of  Amittai."  Jonah,  the  prophet,  the  son  of  Amittai,  is  a  historical  person. 
We  learn  from  2  Kings  xiv.  25,  that  he  was  a  native  of  Gath-Hepher,'2  which  was,  accord- 
ing to  Jewish  tradition,  as  given  by  Jerome,  in  his  preface  to  this  book,  a  small  village,  two 
miles  from  Sepphoris,  called  in  his  time  Diocaesaria,  on  the  road  to  Tiberias.  ["  Geth  in 
secundo  Sephorim  miliario,  quce  hodie  appellator  Dioccesaria,  euntibus  Tiberiadem  hand  grandis 
est  viculus." —  Hieronymus.]  This  description  corresponds  to  the  situation  of  the  present 
village  of  Meshad,  north  of  Nazareth,  where  in  fact  a  grave  is  pointed  out  as  that  of  Jonah. 
[Quaresmius,  ii.  855 ;  Robinson,  Palestine,  iii.  449  ;  Bib.  Researches,  p.  140.]  He  foretold  to 
Jeroboam  II.  (b.  c.  824-783)  the  success  of  his  wars  for  the  extension  [the  restoration  of 

1   ["Viun  eine  grosse  dffentliche  Buxse,''  perform  a  great  public  [act  of]  repentance.  —  C.  E.] 

■2  [The  English  version  of  2  Kings  xiv.  25,  which  reads  .  .  .  .  "  Jonah,  the  son  of  Amittai,  the  prophet,  which  tool 
of  Gath-Hepher,"  may  be  understood  as  meaning  that  Jonah  was  merely  a  resident  of  that  viiiage  ;  but  the  Hebrew 
preposition  mm,  rendered  of.  has.  among  other  significations,  that  of  source,  or  origin  See  Qesenius'  Hebrew  Lexicon 
t  t.  —  C.  B.] 


2  JONAH. 

the  ancient  boundaries.  —  C.  E.]  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel ;  and  was  consequently  an  earl* 
;•  on  temporary  of  the  prophet  Amos.  In  the  relations  of  the  book  to  the  history  of  the  times, 
mere  is  nothing  to  contradict  the  opinion  that  this  was  the  period  of  Jonah's  ministry  [JFt'r- 
bungszeit].  Assyria,  which,  according  to  the  statement  of  Herodotus,  ruled  Hither  Asia  five 
hundred  and  twenty  years,  was  then  a  powerful  empire ;  and  as  Jeroboam's  reign  falls 
within  the  last  century  of  the  Assyrian  dominion,  Nineveh  must  certainly  have  possessed, 
at  that  time,  the  great  extent  which  is  assigned  to  it  in  this  book,  and  which  is  also  attested 
by  profane  authors.  The  separate  cities  of  which  this  great  metropolis  [WeltsladQ  was  made 
up,  were  also  of  a  very  ancient  foundation.  (Comp.  with  1,  2.)  And,  if  twenty  years  after 
the  death  of  Jeroboam,  Menahem  became  tributary  to  the  Assyrian  king,  Pul  (2  K.  xv.  19), 
it  is  obviously  no  rash  assumption  to  affirm  that  even  in  the  time  of  Jeroboam  the  Assyriana 
•could  not  have  been  a  strange  people  to  the  Israelites. 

The  more  special  historical  characteristics,  which  an  historical  interpretation,  something 
more  than  acute,  believes  that  it  has  discovered  in  this  book,  namely,  that  Jonah  went  on  a 
political  mission  to  Nineveh,  the  nature  of  which  it  undertakes  to  determine  (Forbiger,  Gold- 
horn),  belong  of  course  to  the  domain  of  fiction  and  hypothesis.  To  the  same  place  we  assign 
the  fables  of  the  Rabbins,  that  can  be  gleaned  in  Carpzov  (Introd.  ii.  346),  concerning  the 
person  and  history  of  Jonah,  together  with  the  ingenious  combinations  of  the  same  history 
with  profane  Mythology  in  Forbiger.  Rosenmuller,  Friedrichsen,  Baur,  and,  in  part  also,  Hitzig. 
So,  then,  even  at  an  early  period,  the  narrative  of  this  book  was  considered  historical.  (The 
earliest  reference  to  it  is  found  in  Tobit  xiv.  8,  LXX.)  The  arguments  which  have  been 
raised  against  the  historical  character  of  the  recorded  events,  reduce  themselves  (comp.  3 
below)  to  the  incredibility  of  the  reported  incidents  of  Jonah's  life  ;  and  on  a  closer  exami- 
nation (comp.  3,  7;  4,  6),  to  the  incomprehensibility  of  the  miracle  of  the  fish,  which,  in  very 
early  times,  provoked  mockery  and  jest.  (Lucian,  Verce  Hist.,  i.  §  30  f.  ed.  Bip. ;  Augustini 
Ep.  102,  opp.  ed.  Migne,  ii.  p.  382.)  They  are  consequently  of  a  subjective  nature.  The 
analogies  adduced  in  support  of  this  miracle  may  be  adapted  to  facilitate  belief  in  this 
history,  on  the  part  of  him  who  is  inclined  to  believe,  or  who  already  believes,  without  such 
aid  ;  but  they  will  hardly  convince  the  unbeliever  \_Gegner~\  ;  and  they  were  evidently  not  in 
the  mind  of  the  author,  who  undoubtedly  intended  to  record  a  miracle,  and  not  a  natural 
event.  ["  We  feel  ourselves  precluded  from  any  doubt  of  the  reality  of  the  transactions 
recorded  in  this  book,  by  the  simplicity  of  the  language  itself;  by  the  historical  allusions  in 
Tobit  xiv.  4-vi.  15,  and  Josephus,  Ant.,  ix.  10,  sec.  2  ;  and  by  the  accordance  with  other 
authorities  of  the  historical  and  geographical  notices ;  by  the  thought  that  we  might  as  well 
doubt  all  other  miracles  in  Scripture  as  doubt  these  ('  Quod  aut  omnia  divina  miracula  cre- 
denda  non  sint,  aut  hoc  cur  non  credatur  causa  nulla  sit '  Aug.  Ep.  cii.  in  Qu&st.  6  de  Jona, 
ii.  284  ;  cf.  Cyril.  Alex.  Comment,  in  Jonam,  iii.  367-389)  ;  above  all,  by  the  explicit  words 
and  teaching  of  our  blessed  Lord  himself  (Mat.  xii.  39,  41  ;  xvi.  4 ;  Luke  xi.  29).  and  by 
the  correspondence  of  the  miracles  in  the  histories  of  Jonah  and  the  Messiah."  —  Smith's 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  s.  v.  "  Jonah."  —  C.  E.] 

[O.  R.  Hertwig's  Tables :  The  historical  truth  of  the  narrative,  assailed  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Lucian,  is  defended  on  the  following  grounds  :  — 

(1.)     The  numerous  historical  and  geographical  statements  bear  in  themselves  a  genuine  his 
torical  character;  for 

(a.)    The  mission  of  Jonah  to  Nineveh  entirely  agrees  with  the  historical  circumstances 
of  his  time. 

(6.)     The  description  of  the  size  of  Nineveh  harmonizes  with  the  classical  accounts  of 
it.     (Comp.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  3.) 

(c.)    The  deep  moral  corruption  is  attested  by  Nahum. 

(d.)    The  mourning  of  men  and  cattle  (chap.  iii.  5-8)  is  confirmed  by  Herodotus,  ix.  24. 
as  an  Asiatic  custom. 
f2.)    The  fundamental  idea  of  the  book,  and  the  psychologically  faithful  description  of  the 
personality  of  the  prophet  and  of  the  other  persons,  —  ship's  crew  and  Ninevites,  — 
entirely  exclude  fiction. 
Compare  Harless  (in  his  Zeitschr.  fur  Protest.  1851,  xxi.  2)  and  M.  Baumgarten. 
(8.)    The  compilers  of  the  Canon  believed  in  the  historical  truth  of  the  narrative,  and  for 

that  reason  received  it  among  the  prophetical  writings. 
(4.)    The  historical  truth  of  the  book  is  placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  words  of  Christ 
Matt.  xii.  39  AT. ;  xvi.  4  ;   Luke  xi.  29-32. 


INTRODUCTION.  3 


Compare  Sack  (Christl.  Apol.)  and  Delitzsch.     The  belief  of  its  historical  character 
universally  prevailed,  not  only  in  the  Jewish  Synagogue,  but  also  in  the  Christian 
Church,  until  the  middle  of  last  century.     (Tob.  xiv.  8;  LXX. ;  Joseph.  Ant.) 
In  the  last  and  present  centuries  the  view  that  the  book  is  a  fiction  was  and  has  been 

naintained :  — 

(1.)    An  allegory:  v.  d.  Hardt,  Less,  Palmer,  Krahmer. 

(2.)    A  legend  :  Eichhorn.     A  tale  :  Augusti,  Roman,  Miiller,  and  others. 

(3.)    A  myth,  with   Grecian  (Forbiger,  Rosenm.,  Friedrichsen),  or  with  Assyr.-Baby  1.  ele- 
ments (Baur). 

(4.)    A  moral  didactic  fable,  or  parable  (Pareau,  Gesen.,  Jahn,  de  Wette,  Winer,  Enobel 
Niemeyer,  Paulus,  Ewald,  and  others). 

(5.)    A  prophetic  didactic  fiction  (Koster,  J'ager,  Hitzig.)  —  C.  E.] 

III.    Symbolical  Character  of  the  Book. 

The  main  question  is  tbat  which  relates  to  the  understanding  of  this  book,  not  that  con- 
cerning its  historical  contents  [Gehalt],  which  will  be  answered  differently,  according  to  the 
degree  in  which  the  reader  considers  his  conscience  bound  by  the  fides  historica  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  Whether  the  events  are  taken  from  actual  life  or  not,  this  much  is  evident,  that 
the  record  of  them  is  not  tbe  proper  aim  \_nicht  Selbstzweck  ist]  of  the  book :  it  is  intended 
to  communicate  a  deeper  instruction  in  historical  form. 

That  the  book  was  written  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  such  instruction  is  proved:  — 

1.  From  its  position  among  the  prophetical  writings.  The  direct  object  of  these  writings  is, 
without  exception,  to  convey  instruction  in  divine  truth.  If  it  be  said,  that  the  book  was  placed 
among  the  twelve  Minor  Prophets,  because  Jonah  was  its  author,  it  may  be  replied,  first,  that  of 
its  authorship  by  Jonah  we  have  nowhere  any  mention ;  and  that,  according  to  this  rule,  the 
Lamentations  ought  also  to  be  placed  among  the  prophetical  books.  Just  with  as  little  propriety 
can  an  argument  be  founded  upon  the  fact  that  the  book  treats  of  the  fortunes  of  a  prophet, 
for  according  to  this  rule,  Micah  and  Malachi  would  have  no  place  among  the  prophetical 
writings ;  while  on  the  other  hand  the  books  of  Moses,  from  Exodus  to  Deuteronomy,  and  a 
whole  series  of  chapters  in  the  books  of  Kings,  would  be  entitled  to  a  place  among  these 
writing?.  If  in  the  prophets,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  historical  passages,  or  notices,  are  inserted, 
it  is  done  that  they  may  form  the  frame-work  of  the  prophecy,  serve  to  make  it  intelligible, 
and  place  it  in  organic  connection  with  the  facts  ;  but  throughout  these  prophets  the  pro- 
phetical element  is  the  main  part,  on  which  the  whole  hinges.  In  the  book  of  Jonah,  on  the 
other  hand,  this  could  still  less  be  the  object,  as  his  prophecy  is  revoked,  and  thus  forms,  in 
the  totality  of  the  book,  only  a  thing  of  passing  moment  [yorubergehendes  Moment}.  More- 
over, that  historical  additions  should  be  found  in  a  long  series  of  prophetical  discourses  is 
one  thing,  but  that  an  entire  independent  book  should  be  placed  under  this  point  of  view,  is 
quite  another  thing.  Evidently  the  compilers  of  the  Canon  considered  the  book  a  purely 
prophetical  one  [Rede],  whose  historical  manner  of  representation  has  the  object  of  bringing 
its  instruction  within  reach  and  of  making  it  easily  retained. 

2.  We  find  confirmation  of  this  by  inspection  of  the  book  itself,  in  which  certain  instruc- 
tive truths  —  of  which  more  hereafter  —  force  themselves  on  the  notice  of  the  reader,  and 
stand  out  so  prominently  that  the  interest  of  the  narrator  evidently  does  not  attach  to  the 
person  of  whom  he  speaks,  but  manifestly  to  the  events  of  his  life  \_Ergehen  dieser  Person], 
Precisely  that,  which,  historically  viewed,  must  appear  the  chief  particular  of  the  book, 
namely,  the  sparing  of  Nineveh,  is  marked  with  proportionally  the  least  emphasis. 

3.  In  addition  to  these  considerations,  and  in  harmony  with  them,  is  the  style  of  the  book. 
This  is  anything  but  the  historical  style.  The  author  neglects  a  multitude  of  things,  which 
he  would  have  been  obliged  to  mention  had  history  been  his  principal  aim.  He  says  nothing 
of  the  sins  of  which  Nineveh  was  guilty,  and  which  might  have  formed  the  motive  for  its 
destruction  ;  nothing  of  the  long  and  difficult  journey  of  the  prophet  to  Nineveh  ;  he  is  silent 
about  the  early  dwelling-place  of  Jonah,  about  the  place  where  he  was  vomited  out  upon 
the  land ;  he  does  not  mention  whether  and  when  Jonah  offered  and  performed  the  offering 
and  vow,  which  he  promised  and  made  (ii.  10) ;  neither  does  he  mention  the  name  of  the 
Assyrian  king,  nor  take  any  notice  of  the  subsequent  fortunes  of  the  prophet.  In  any  case 
the  narrative,  if  it  were  intended  to  be  historical,  would  be  incomplete  by  the  frequent 
occurrence  that  circumstances,  which  are  necessary  for  the  connection  of  events,  are  men 


4  JONAH. 

tioned  later  than  they  occurred,  and  only  where  attention  is  directed  to  them  as  havin* 
already  happened.  Should  the  observations  mostly  presented  by  Goldhorn  and  Hitzig  be 
urged  for  the  purpose  of  denying  altogether  that  the  Book  of  Jonah  relates  historical 
events,  they  must  be  deemed  inadequate ;  but  they  certainly  prove  what  Hengstenberg  haa 
fully  done,  that  the  author  communicates  historical  events  only  so  far  as  the  object  requires, 
to  furnish  an  intelligible  basis  for  the  representation  of  a  doctrinal  object  lying  outside  of 
the  narrative  ;  that  the  author,  if  he  avails  himself  of  the  facts  of  history  for  his  purpose, 
has  still  employed  historical  data  with  discrimination,  in  the  light  of,  and  according  to  the 
idea,  which  he  intended  to  represent. 

4.  Circumstances  are  found  so  recorded,  that  without  the  supposition  of  a  definite  design 
and  bearing  of  the  narrative,  this  form  of  narration  would  be  incomprehensible.  If  Jonah 
utters  thanks  in  the  belly  of  the  fish,  and  not  after  he  is  safe  on  shore,  then  there  is,  unlesi 
this  arrangement  of  events  is  required  by  a  definite  design,  a  want  of  physical  truth,  whicl 
cannot  be  concealed  by  any  exegetical  subtilty. 

But  the  questions  now  arise,  what  are  the  design  and  teaching  of  the  book  ?  and  how  are 
they  made  available  in  the  narrative  ?  Is  it  a  single  moral  lesson,  of  which  the  entire  nar- 
rative is  the  foundation,  after  the  manner  of  a  didactic  fable  ?  Or  is  the  whole  representa- 
tion symbolical,  exhibiting  a  complete  system  [Zusammenhang~\  of  doctrines  and  ideas,  a 
delineation  of  an  entire  development  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  ? 

In  answer  to  the  first  of  these  suppositions  it  can  be  said,  that  a  single  tenet  of  revelation, 
or  of  morality,  is  incongruous  with  the  contents  of  the  whole  book.  Each  of  the  individual 
tendencies  advanced  by  Exegetes  neglects  one  or  the  other  part  of  the  book,  and  can,  there- 
fore, not  sufficiently  explain  the  peculiar  literary  character  of  the  whole.  "  There  is  no 
didactic  unity  in  the  book."  (Sack.)  In  the  manifold  applications  made  of  the  book,  the 
doctrine  has  been  discovered  in  it,  that  God  cares  for  other  nations  also  (Semler)  ;  that  He 
is  not  the  God  of  the  Jews  only,  but  also  of  the  heathen  (D.  Michaelis,  Eichhorn,  Bohme, 
Pareau,  Gesenius,  De  Wette,  Winer,  Knobel,  and  many  others)  ;  and  the  view  of  Gramberg 
and  Friedrichsen  amounts  to  essentially  the  same  thing,  according  to  which  the  conduct  of 
the  heathen  and  their  treatment  should  serve  as  an  example  of  repentance  to  Israel.  But 
according  to  these  views  the  second  chapter  is  entirely  superfluous,  and  Friedrichsen,  with 
great  difficulty,  accommodates  the  first  to  them.  The  matter  is  not  improved  by  discovering 
in  the  book,  in  addition  to  instruction  for  the  Jews,  an  admonition  to  toleration  for  the  heathen. 
(Griesinger).  Still  less  satisfactory  are  general  truths,  such  as  those  that  Niemeyer,  Hezel, 
Mbller,  Meyer,  Paulus,  and  others  have  found  in  the  book :  namely,  "  God's  ways  are  not  as 
our  ways."  "The  office  of  prophet  is  arduous,  but  of  great  worth"  [Kostlich~\.  "Jehovah  is 
kind  and  readily  forgives."  "  God  is  ready  to  avenge  and  to  forgive,"  etc.  And,  if  convert- 
ing the  doctrine  into  a  special  aim  [Tendenz],  Hitzig  has  developed  the  suggestions  of  Koster 
and  Jager  to  the  view,  that  the  book  was  written  to  remove  the  doubts  which  might  attach 
themselves  to  the  non-fulfillment  of  prophecy  (here,  according  to  Hitzig,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  alleged  non-fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  of  Obadiah),  then  the  great  preparations 
which  were  devoted  to  so  insignificant  an  object,  are  not  in  keeping  with  it.  Then  chapters 
iii.  and  iv.  would  be  amply  sufficient.  In  the  homiletical  and  catechetical  use  of  the  book, 
one  must  not  leave  unnoticed  all  those  truths  and  definite  purposes ;  and  he  will  also  deter- 
mine, on  account  of  their  multitude,  to  bestow  increased  esteem  and  consideration  upon  the 
opulence  of  this  little  book,  which,  in  four  short  chapters,  discloses  new  contents  to  each 
inquirer ;  but  even  the  multiplicity  of  the  constructions  put  upon  it  [Bestimmungen]  proves 
that  none  exhausts  the  contents  of  the  book  to  the  degree  that  one  can  attribute  to  it  the 
character  of  a  didactic  fable,  or  moral  narrative. 

There  is  a  still  more  cogent  argument.  The  book  is,  as  we  have  seen,  a  prophetical  oec 
But  in  all  prophecy,  this  kind  of  narrative  is  nowhere  to  be  met  with.  No  narrative  is  found 
there,  which  should  solely  have  the  object  that  the  hearer,  or  reader,  may  draw  fbom  it  an 
individual  truth  as  a  moral.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  a  frequent  kind  of  propheti 
eal  composition  to  symbolize  the  past,  present,  or  future  destinies  of  a  great  community 
\n  a  single  concrete  form,  so  that  this  representative  concrete  appears  in  a  whole  series  of 
relations  as  a  symbol  of  that  community.  Of  this,  the  Vineyard,  Isaiah,  chap,  v.,  is  a  familiar 
example.  Ezekiel,  particularly,  is  full  of  such  symbols,  among  wh'ch  the  figurative  repre 
sentation  of  the  fate  of  Jerusalem,  chap,  xvi.,  and  the  allegorizing  of  Jndah  and  Ephraim  by 
(he  two  sisters,  Aholah   and   Aholibah,  are  characteristic  of  this  species  of  prophetic  style 


INTRODUCTION. 


And  still  nearer  to  our  purpose  stands  the  most  profound  symbolical  discourse  of  the  Old 
Testament,  Isaiah  xl.-lxvi.,  in  which  everything,  deserts,  water,  bread,  light,  Zion,  are  sym- 
bols, and  under  all  these  symbols  the  comprehension  of  the  Israelitish  national  community, 
under  the  individual  designation  of  the  servant  of  God,  occupies  the  highest  place,  since  it 
is  explained  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy  as  the  type  of  the  true  Israel  manifested  in  Christ. 

That  the  book  of  Jonah  is  to  be  counted  among  these  symbolical  prophecies  has  by  no 
means  escaped  the  notice  of  interpreters.  The  anticipation  of  it  gleams  through  the  words 
of  old  Marck  :  "  Scriptum  est  magna  parte  historicurn,  sed  ila  ut  in  historia  ipsa  lateat  maximi 
aticinii  mysterium,  atque  ipse  fads  suis  non  minus  quam  effatis  vatem  se  verum  demonstret." 
It  forms  also  the  minimum  of  an  originally  right  starting-point  in  the  peculiar  conceits, 
whimsically  embellished  by  the  theological  mythus,  of  Von  der  Hardt,  that  Nineveh  repre- 
sents Samaria,  but  that  Jonah  is  an  enigmatical  name  for  the  kings  Manasseh  and  Josiah. 
Here  belong  also  Herder's  attempt  to  represent  Jonah  as  a  symbol  of  the  order  of  the  proph- 
ets, and  Krahmer's  view  that  Jonah  was  a  warning  example  for  his  contemporaries. 

On  the  same  line,  and  equally  removed  from  the  purely  parabolical  and  purely  historical 
view,  lies  the  attempt  made  by  several  modern  divines  and  commentators,  after  the 
example  of  Sack  (in  harmony  with  the  common  effort  to  guide  the  exegesis  of  the  Old 
Testament  into  the  profound  meaning  of  Scripture,  and  into  the  deep  questions  of  the  close 
connection  between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments),  to  represent  Jonah  as  a  type  of  Christ. 
Here  particularly,  we  may  mention  Hengstenberg,  Delitzsch,  and  Keil.  (See  below).  This 
typical  view  of  the  book  has  a  strong  claim  to  be  received,  if  we  consider  the  declara- 
tion of  our  Saviour  (Matth.  xii.  40).  But  notwithstanding  it  may  be  said,  first,  that  this 
view  does  not  embrace  the  whole  book,  but  must,  along  with  our  Saviour's  declaration,  be 
restricted  to  chapter  ii. ;  and  again,  that  it  shares  the  defects  of  every  exposition  of  the  Old 
Testament  given  entirely  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  New  Testament ;  and  that  it  is  not 
suited  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  Old  Testament  standpoint,  and  to  the  independent  signifi- 
cance of  the  book  in  the  collection  of  the  Canon.  It  is  in  part  not  enough,  namely,  the 
mere  New  Testament  element ;  in  part  too  much,  to  wit,  the  discovery  of  the  fulfillment 
already  in  that  which  is  preliminary.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  whole  Old  Testament 
revelation  receives  light  from  the  New  Testament  from  first  to  last,  which  enables  us  to  per- 
ceive its  teleological  connection  tending  onward  till  it  reaches  the  goal ;  and  yet  each  state- 
ment and  each  book  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  a  member  of  the  organism  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  has  an  aim  peculiar  to  itself.  And  the  full  authority  of  the  typical  interpretation 
will  then  first  come  into  the  true  light,  when  one  places  the  genuine  sense  already  drawn 
from  the  contents  of  the  book,  under  the  light  of  the  end,  namely,  the  fulfillment.  Let  ua 
attempt  an  interpretation  of  the  symbol,  an  interpretation  standing  upon  its  own,  and  that 
an  Old  Testament  foundation. 

Jonah  is  a  prophet ;  his  special  mission  in  the  book  is  a  prophetic  one.  There  is  in  the 
Old  Testament  only  one  community  to  which  the  prophetic  vocation  belongs,  —  namely,  the 
people  of  Israel.  For  the  purpose  that  in  him  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed, 
Israel  was  founded  as  a  nation  in  his  ancestor,  Abraham  (Gen.  xii.),  and  God  chose  him  as 
his  servant,  to  disseminate  the  light,  the  knowledge  of  God's  law  among  the  heathen.  (Is. 
xlii.  1).  Jonah  is  Israel.  Nineveh  —  in  the  view  of  the  author  of  the  book  the  type  of  a 
great  heathen  city  —  is,  in  a  similar  relation,  the  representative  of  the  heathen  world,  as  are 
moreover  Babylon  (Is.  xiii.  f.),  and  Edom  (Is.  lxiii.).  It  is  selected  here,  because  the  con- 
tact with  Nineveh  marks  the  decisive  turning-point  between  the  old  time,  when  Israel,  joy- 
ful in  his  strength,  subjected  the  neighboring  nations,  and  the  new  time,  in  which  prophecy, 
through  contact  with  the  Mesopotamian  powers,  became  of  a  universal  character ;  because 
their  captivity  among  these  nations,  though  at  first  a  penal  calamity  determined  upon  them, 
had  the  ultimate  purpose  of  freeing  the  kingdom  of  God  from  the  narrow  limits  of  its  national 
foundation,  and  of  preparing  its  dissemination  over  the  whole  earth. 

Israel  has  the  mission  of  preaching  God's  doctrine  and  law  to  the  heathen  world.  But 
he  has  a  greater  desire  for  gain  and  its  pursuits.  He  shuns  his  calling  and  goes  on  board  a 
merchantman.  He  abandons  his  intimate  relation  to  Zion  and  hastens  far  away,  where  no 
mission  is  assigned  to  him,  where  he  thinks  that  the  arm  of  God  cannot  reach  him.  For  it 
also  belongs  to  his  ungodly  prejudices  to  believe  that  God's  arm  and  work  are  limited  to  the 
holy  land  —  a  prejudice  which  already  in  Jacob,  the  ancestor  whose  character  represent* 
typically  the  national  faults,  was  to  his  shame  rebuked  (Gen.  xxviii.  16  f.). 


t)  JONAH. 

But  God  reproves  the  fugitive.  In  the  terrors,  which  must  fall  upon  him,  according  tt 
the  divine  decree,  Jonah  does  not  seek  God,  but  sleeps,  while  the  heathen  pray.  Al. 
heathen  nations  —  the  individual  members  of  the  crew  represent  nations,  for  they  pray  each 
to  his  God  (i.  5)  —might,  by  their  sincere  idol-worship,  administer  a  rebuke  [zur  Beschamung 
dieneii]  to  the  godlessness  of  God's  people,  in  their  extreme  distress.  They  cast  the  lot. 
which  brings  death  to  him  ;  this  they  do  not  of  their  own  choice,  but  by  the  appointment 
of  God,  which  they  unconsciously  follow.  The  lot  falls  for  a  war  of  extermination  against 
Israel.  Jonah  must  announce  his  own  fate.  Israel  has  the  law,  which  carries  the  curse  in 
itself,  and,  like  a  sword  suspended  by  a  horse-hair,  hangs  over  the  head  of  the  nation  (comp. 
on  Micah  vi.  16);  he  has  prophecy,  which,  confined  to  him,  prophecies  a  calamitous  end  to 
the  whole  nation  (Micah  iii.  12  i.  8).  Jonah  is  thrown  into  the  sea  and  swallowed  by  a 
monster.  The  sea-monster  is,  by  no  means,  an  unusual  phenomenon  in  prophetic  typology. 
It  is  the  secular  power  appointed  by  God  for  the  scourge  of  Israel  and  of  the  earth.  (Is. 
xxvii.  1  ;  comp.  on  ii.  1.)  Israel  is  abandoned  to  the  night  and  gloom  of  exile,  after  the  catas- 
trophe of  the  national  overthrow,  because  he  neglected  his  vocation.  Hence  the  fact  that 
Jonah  prays  and  turns  to  God,  before  his  deliverance  from  the  fish's  belly,  receives  an  illus- 
tration. In  adversity  Israel  shall  again  seek  God.  In  that  which  properly  belongs  to  penal 
sufferings,  he  shall  nevertheless,  at  the  same  time,  acknowledge  the  gracious  hand  of  God 
(Hos.  ii.  16).  He  shall,  also,  in  his  miserable  existence  in  a  foreign  land,  not  forget  his  holy 
calling.  He  shall  not  forget  that  his  preservation  as  a  nation,  though  as  outcast,  is  a  saving 
act  of  God.  This  becomes  still  clearer  through  the  close  relation,  in  which  this  prayer  of 
Jonah  stands  to  the  longing  and  lamentations  in  exile,  of  the  people  of  God,  e.  g.  Psalms  xlii. 
and  lxxxviii.  in  which  also  the  deeps  of  the  sea  symbolize  the  misery  of  Israel. 

There  [in  the  deep]  Jonah  remains  three  days  and  three  nights,  a  definite,  but  an  ideal 
time  (comp.  on  ii.  1) ;  a  similar  time  is  allotted  by  Hosea,  also,  for  the  punishment  of  Israel 
(Hos.  vi.  2).  Then  the  fish  vomits  him  out;  the  exile  must  have  an  end,  for  God  has 
appointed  the  fish ;  not  of  its  own  power  and  will  did  it  swallow  Jonah. 

But  with  the  hoped  for  restoration,  the  vocation  of  Israel  is  not  revoked.  Jonah  is  sent  the 
second  time  to  Nineveh ;  and  he  must  preach  that  the  heathen  world  shall  perish ;  for  that  is 
the  will  of  God  concerning  the  nations  that  do  not  obey  Him  (Micah  v.  14).  But  Israel  says, 
What  shall  I  preach  ?  It  is  truly  cause  for  despair,  that  so  much  has  already  been  prophesied 
concerning  the  destruction  of  the  heathen,  and  that  it  has  come  to  nothing.  They  remain 
peaceful  and  quiet.  If  my  preaching  accomplishes  its  object,  they  will  be  saved,  for  God  is 
merciful  and  gracious.  (Comp.  Zech.  i.  11.)  This  instance  [Moment]  [of  doubt  and  irresolu- 
tion on  the  part  of  Israel.  —  C.  E.]  is  also  portrayed  in  the  history  of  Jonah.  Indeed,  Jonah's 
preaching  works  repentance,  and,  consequently,  forbearance;  and  reproach  proceeds  from  his 
mouth.  God  corrects  him  by  the  incident  of  the  palmchrist.  Thereby  Israel,  too,  is  instructed. 
There  lies  in  the  sparing  of  Nineveh,  before  the  correction  of  Jonah,  the  type  of  the  future 
ingathering  of  the  multitude  of  the  heathen  before  the  Jewish  people,  which  must  first  be 
humbled  and  broken.  (Comp.  Micah  iv.)  And  the  prophet  who  wrote  the  history  of  Jonah, 
has  exhibited  the  ground  of  this  future,  momentous  to  his  people,  as  one  lying  within  the 
Old  Testament  knowledge  of  God  and  his  kingdom ;  in  the  mercy  of  God  in  view  of  repent- 
ance, and  in  the  obduracy  of  Israel  against  the  divine  goodness,  which  quarrels  with  God 
instead  of  repenting.  So  must  it  truly  come  to  pass,  what  Isaiah  says  (lxv.  1),  that  God  is 
found  of  those  who  sought  Him  not,  and  who  were  not  called  by  his  name.  (Comp.  Bom. 
x.  20.) 

Upon  this  teleological  prophecy  nothing  more  can  follow ;  the  book  naturally  closes  with 
this  according  to  our  view.  It  becomes  evident,  according  to  this  view,  that  the  book  is  one  of 
universal  tendency,  and  raises  the  idea  of  Israel  to  a  height  similar  to  that  described,  Isaiah 
xl.  ff. ;  only  that  there  the  bright  side  fulfilled  in  Christ  develops  itself  from  the  mission  of 
the  servant.  Though  here  the  dignity  of  the  mission  is  not  less  marked  than  there,  yet  the 
natural  obstacles  in  the  character  of  the  people  are  brought  into  the  foreground,  by  which  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  true  Israel,  at  last,  was  not  received  by  his  own,  and  was  crucified  bv 
contemporary  Israel.  Further,  the  reciprocal  relation  is  hence  clearly  exhibited,  which  the 
Fymbolical  character  has  had  upon  the  treatment  of  the  historical  narrative ;  and  the  his- 
torical substratum  upon  the  symbolical  representation.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  truth  to 
be  exhibited  could  have  been  more  briefly  and  more  directly  explained  in  another  way  ^as 
this  holds  good  generally  in  the  case  of  parables) ;  but  the  author  found,  in  a  history  ready  te 


INTRODUCTION.  1 


his  hand,1  the  profound  idea,  which  the  Spirit  moved  him  to  teach,  and  in  order  to  do  justice 
to  the  historical,  he  made  casual  mention  in  the  narrative,  of  much  which,  at  the  first  glance, 
might  appear,  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  didactic  object,  as  unimportant. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  it  could  not  fail  that  his  design  to  write  symbolic  history  made  him 
indifferent  to  the  pragmatic  connection  of  the  historical  substratum  in  itself;  hence  the 
chasms  and  the  incompleteness  of  statement  noted  by  Hengstenberg,  as  soon  as  the  rule  of 
the  historical  style  is  applied  to  it. 

Hence,  finally,  we  learn  from  the  book  itself,  its  typical  significance  in  relation  to  the  New 
Testament.  That  Israel,  as  he  fives  a  unity  in  the  complex  of  God's  ideas  [in  der  IdeenweU 
Gottes],  is  the  type  of  Christ,  is  indubitable  to  every  one  who  has  once  earnestly  reflected 
upon  the  wonderful  harmony  between  the  image  of  the  servant  of  God  (Is.  xlix.  ff.)  and  Christ, 
and  who  has  sought  to  explore  the  concealed  vein  of  Old  Testament  history,  according  to  the 
clear  exposition  of  the  Apostle  Paul  (Gal.  iii.  16).  If  Jonah  is  a  type  of  Israel,  and  Israel 
a  type  of  Christ,  then  the  typical  relation  already  traced  out  in  Sack  (see  below),  is  sug- 
gested between  Jonah  and  Christ ;  and  the  reference  to  this  type,  prominently  presented  in 
Matt.  xii.  40,  comp.  xvi.  4  ;  Mk.  viii.  1 1  f. ;  Luke  xi.  29  ff. ;  John  xii.  23  f.,  is  only  a  single, 
though  the  most  important  instance  [Moment],  Indeed  it  is  according  to  the  intimation  of 
these  passages,  that  as  the  sparing  of  Jonah  in  the  belly  of  the  fish  and  his  subsequent  preach- 
ing of  repentance  (Luke  xi.  32),  were  a  sign  to  the  Ninevites,  which  must  bring  to  them  faith 
or  judgment,  so  the  preservation  of  Jesus  in  the  grave,  and  the  continued  proclamation  of 
the  Risen  One,  are  a  sign  to  the  world  of  judgment  and  of  faith,  by  which  the  separation  of 
mankind  proceeds  continually  with  inexorable  power.  Other  relations  can  still  be  discovered 
without  forced  interpretation.  It  seems  to  me  particularly  worth  considering  how  the  volun- 
tary labors  of  the  ship's  crew  (i.  13)  did  not  gain  the  shore ;  there  was  no  peace  until  the 
sin-offering  consecrated  by  God  was  effered. 

[The  mission  and  vocation  of  Israel  are  set  forth  in  Is.  xlii.  6  :  "  I  the  Lord  have  called 
thee  in  righteousness,  and  will  hold  thy  hand,  and  will  keep  thee,  and  give  thee  for  a  cove- 
nant of  the  people,  for  a  fight  of  the  Gentiles."  "  This  description  is  entirely  appropriate, 
not  only  to  the  Head,  but  to  the  Body  also,  in  subordination  to  him.  Not  only  the  Messiah, 
but  the  Israel  of  God  was  sent  to  be  a  mediator  or  connecting  link  between  Jehovah  and  the 
nations."  Israel  was  "a  covenant  race  or  middle  people  between  God  and  the  apostate 
nations."  (Alexander  on  Isaiah,  chap.  xlii.  6.)  Jonah  commissioned  by  God  to  preach 
against  the  great  heathen  city,  Nineveh,  is  a  type  of  Israel  in  his  mission  and  vocation. 

"  The  book  of  Jonah  contains  no  prediction  of  a  direct  Christian  import.  But  he  is,  in 
his  own  person,  a  type,  a  prophetic  sign  of  Christ.  The  miracle  of  his  deliverance  from  his 
three  days  of  death  in  the  body  of  the  whale,  is  the  expressive  image  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.     Our  Saviour  has  fixed  the  truth  and  certainty  of  this  type.     Matt.  xii.  40. 

"  Further,  the  whole  import  of  Jonah's  mission  partakes  of  the  Christian  character.  For 
when  we  see  that  he  is  sent  not  only  to  carry  the  tidings  of  the  divine  judgment,  but  also  to 
exemplify  the  grant  of  the  divine  mercy  to  a  great  heathen  city  ;  that  is,  to  be  a  preacher  of 
repentance ;  and  that  the  repentance  of  the  Ninevites  through  his  mission,  brings  them  to 
know  "  a  gracious  God,  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger  and  of  great  kindness,  and  repenting  Him 
of  the  evil "  (Jonah  iv.  2)  ;  —  without  staying  to  discuss  whether  all  this  be  a  formal  type  of 
the  genius  of  the  Christian  religion,  it  is  plainly  a  real  example  of  some  of  its  chief  properties, 
in  the  manifested  efficacy  of  repentance,  the  grant  of  pardon,  and  the  communication  of 
God's  mercy  to  the  heathen  world."     (Davison  on  Prophecy,  pp.  200,  201.)  —  C.  E.] 

[O.  R.  Hertwig's  Tables :  Without  prejudice  to  its  historical  sense,  the  following  authors 
admit  a  symbolico-typical  character  of  the  Book  :  — 
(1.)    Keil,  Del.,  Baumg.,  Hengst. :    Jonah  is  a  type  of  Christ.     (Also  the  Church  Fathers, 

Marck  and  others,  on  account  of  Matt.  xii.  40.) 
(2.)    Kleinert :  Jonah  is  the  representative  of  Israel  in  his  [Israel's]  prophetic  vocation  to 
the  heathen  world.  —  C.  E.] 

IV.  Date. 

On  this  point  two  deductions  follow  from  the  preceding  exposition :  first,  that  Jonah  him- 
•elf  could  not  have  written  this  book ;    second,  that  its  composition  is  separated  by  a  long 

i  Compare  H.  Bwald,  on  the  Poetical  Books  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Book  of  Job :  the  inven- 
Bon  of  a  history  from  its  inception,  the  production  of  a  person  intended  to  be  historical,  wholly  from  the  imagination  of 
the  poet,  are  entirely  foreign  to  antiquity,  because  extremely  forced  and  remote. 


8  JONAH. 

period  from  the  time  of  Jereboam  II.,  in  whose  reign  its  action  falls.  For  disregarding  the  fact 
that  this  manner  of  speaking  of  one's  self  in  the  third  person,  does  not  occur  elsewhere  in  the 
prophets,  with  the  exception  of  Isaiah  xxxvi.-xxxix.,  taken  from  an  annalistic  source,  though 
written  by  the  prophet,  and  with  the  exception  of  short  introductory  headings  to  prophetic 
passages  (compare  on  the  other  hand,  e.  g.,  Ezekiel),  and  that  it  has  also  little  probability, 
the  historical  style  is  wanting  to  the  book,  and  still  more,  there  is  wanting  the  character  of 
things  experienced  by  the  writer  [selbsterlebter  Dinge,  self  experienced  things].  And  indeed 
it  is  not  well  to  assume  either  that  a  man  should  make  his  own  fortunes  the  subject  of  a  sym- 
bolical narrative,  or  that  Jonah,  according  to  the  time  in  which  he  lived  and  the  aggregate 
condition  of  prophetic  knowledge  of  that  time,  should  see  so  clearly,  portrayed  in  the  won- 
derful fortunes  which  happened  to  him,  according  to  the  narrative  of  this  book,  over  its  per- 
sonal significance,  the  lines  for  the  whole  future  development  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  its 
relation  to  the  heathen  world,  as  they  have  been  here  exhibited  in  harmony  with  the  pro- 
phetic revelations,  which  developed  themselves  long  after  the  time  of  Jonah  in  the  vision  of 
the  Babylonish  exile  ;  especially  because  the  book  evidently  does  not  advance  the  claim  of 
intending  to  make  the  announcement  of  a  germinant,  though  not  begun  future,  but  to  furnish 
an  understanding  of  the  ways  of  God  at  the  time  present.  We  find  that  personification  of 
Israel,  its  relation  to  the  prophetic  mission  and  to  the  exile,  first  in  Isaiah  xl.  ff.,  in  the  Lamen- 
tations of  Jeremiah,  and  especially  so  strongly  marked  in  Ezekiel,  that  the  author  of  this 
book  cannot  be  elevated  to  a  grade  of  prophecy  like  this.  It  agrees  with  this,  that  the  next 
object  of  the  book,  according  to  the  above  acknowledged  meaning  of  chap,  ii.,  is  exhausted  in 
rousing  and  bringing  the  Israelites  to  the  consciousness  of  their  vocation,  according  as  they, 
in  the  Captivity  and  after  it,  were  situated  with  reference  to  the  heathen.  It  cannot  even  be 
denied  that  the  literary  character  of  the  book  also  gives  it  this  place.  That  the  psalm  in  the 
second  chapter  is  not  a  prayer  repeated  literally  from  memory,  but  a  free  reproduction  (whose 
relation  to  the  object  above  stated,  cannot  escape  the  notice  of  the  reader),  is  pretty  gen- 
erally acknowledged.  "  Not  that  he  uttered  just  these  words  with  his  mouth,  and  placed  them 
in  such  order,  for  he  was  not  in  so  happy  a  state  as  to  compose  so  fine  a  hymn.  But  it  is 
therein  shown  how  he  felt ;  what  thoughts  were  in  his  heart,  while  he  was  engaged  in  the 
bard  struggle  with  death."  (Luther.)  The  reproduction  indeed  depends  upon  passages  in 
the  Psalter.  And  though  it  might  be  conceded  that  ver.  2  is  not,  as  would  appear  at  first 
sight,  borrowed  from  Psalm  cxx.  1,  written  after  the  exile,  but  from  Psalm  xviii.  7,  there  still 
remains  a  series  of  other  verbal  coincidences  with  Psalms  xlii.,  lxxxviii.,  and  others,  which,  like 
these  Psalms  themselves  can  only  be  explained  from  the  side  of  the  Captivity.  Just  so  is 
the  description  of  the  repentance  (chap,  iii.),  which  the  Ninevites  engaged  in  by  order  of 
their  king,  made  up  throughout  of  recollections  of  the  prophetic  mode  of  expression ;  resting 
not  only  upon  Joel  i.  20,  but  also  upon  Ezekiel  xviii.  23 ;  and  in  general  a  realization  of 
Ezekiel  iii.  6.  Not  that  thereby  the  historical  character  of  this  repentance  would  be 
destroyed  :  we  find  here,  as  in  the  prayer  (chap,  ii.),  views  and  special  references  that  do  not 
admit  of  a  general  solution.  But  the  mode  of  expression  fixes  the  time  of  the  exile  as  the 
date  of  the  book. 

To  this  may  finally  be  added  some  external  peculiarities  of  language  and  representation. 
The  richness  of  the  language  and  the  use  of  words,  likewise  place  the  book  in  the  times  of 
the  later  Hebraism.  In  common  with  Ezekiel  and  Jeremiah,  it  has  the  words  not  occurring 
elsewhere:  nbtt,  mariner,  i.  5  (Ez.  xxvii.  9,  27,  29);  HWV,  i.  6  (comp.  Jer.  v.  28);  the 
form  i2~i,  iv.  11,  compare  with  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Chronicles;  the  word  -Q37n  "i.  6,  with 
the  signification  to  remove,  to  lay  aside,  compare  with  Chronicles  and  Esther.  Further, 
K7J2,  iii.  7,  in  the  sense  of  edict,  and  HD^D,  ship,  i.  5,  are  words  wholly  foreign  to  the 
Hebrew  commonwealth  of  letters  and  of  North-Semitic  origin.  And  hence,  also,  other  phe- 
nomena of  language,  that  were  not  impossible  in  the  time  of  Jonah,  but  yet  foreign  to  the 
old  prophetic  style,  gain  importance,  as  for  instance,  the  combinations,  after  the  Aramaic 
manner,  of  ^btT?,  i.  12  ;  ^b©?,  i.  7  ;  and  the  simple  W  itself  for  "IttJS,  iv.  10  ;  and  also  the 
periphrase  of  the  object-accusative  by  means  of  b,  iv.  6.  In  however  small  a  degree  a 
determinate  meaning  can  be  ascribed  to  such  phenomena  in  language  in  the  small  compass 
:>f  the  realm  of  Hebrew  literature,  yet  are  they  in  nowise  worthless,  especially  in  a  book 
whose  author  wholly  omits  to  make  any  mention  of  himself.  To  this  may  be  added  the 
fact  that  an   author  in   Jonah's  time,   in    mentioning   the   city  of   Nineveh,   would  hardlj 


la  TRODUCTION. 


'iave  found  it  necessary  for  the  information  of  his  readers,  to  subjoin :  "  and  Nineveh  was  a 
great  city,"  iii.  3  ;  so  finally,  the  phenomenon  of  our  having  obviously  in  chapters  iii.  and 
iv.  two  accounts,  which  state  essentially  the  same  thing,  the  one  in  laconic  touches,  the  other 
in  more  minute  details  (a  circumstance  in  the  known  style  of  oriental  and  popular  narra- 
tive, that  in  general  need  not  surprise  us),  and  which  agree  verbally  and  intimately  blend 
with  one  another.  First  account,  C.  iii.,  1-5,  10;  iv.  1-5.  Second  account,  iii.  1-4,  6-10; 
iv.  1-3,  6-11).  This  observation  proves  two  different  things:  first  that  we  have  to  do,  not 
with  a  parabolic  fiction,  but  with  a  fact  historically  transmitted  several  times.  Secondly,  so 
long  %  space  has  intervened  between  the  events  and  the  record,  that  two  traditions  could  be 
formed  in  the  mean  time  ;  that  therefore  a  later  author,  and  not  Jonah,  has  compiled  this 
account  in  systematic  form.  The  unity  of  the  book,  which  has  been  denied  by  Nachtigal, 
with  much  ingenuity,  is  internally  and  externally  quite  indivisible.  The  word  fTOK'  con- 
nects both  the  great  halves  in  the  most  intimate  manner  ;  everywhere  we  meet  with  certain 
standing  formulae  (]C1,  ii-  1  ;  iv.  6  ff. ;  the  great  city,  i.  2 ;  iii.  3,  etc.),  and  idioms  (comp. 
especially  the  peculiar  form  of  the  hysteron-proteron  i.  5-10  ;  iii.  6  f. ;  iv.  5)  ;  and  the  in- 
ternal unity  follows  naturally  from  the  interpretation  given  under  2. 

To  sum  up,  one  cannot  but  ascribe  the  composition  of  the  book  to  a  contemporary  and 
fellow-sufferer  of  Ezekiel.  to  whom  allusions  most  manifold  have  met  us  in  the  course  of 
exposition.  But  the  position  which  it  occupies  among  the  oldest  prophets,  is  easily  explained 
from  the  circumstance  that  the  object  of  the  narrative,  and  not  the  author,  is  kept  in  view, 
and  therefore  Jonah,  as  the  one  who  first  came  in  contact  with  Assyria,  properly  precedes 
Micah,  that  prophet  who  lived  under  the  Assyrian  oppression,  during  its  middle  period,  and 
Nahum,  who  announced  definitely  the  fate  of  Nineveh. 

Luther :  Some  would  maintain,  as  Jerome  shows,  that  this  prophet,  Jonah,  was  the  son  of 
the  widow  at  Zarephath,  near  Sidon,  who  nourished  the  prophet  Elijah  during  the  famine, 
mentioned  in  1  K.  xvii.  10,  and  2  K.  xiv.  25.  The  reason  they  assign  is,  that  he  calls 
himself  here  the  son  of  Amittai,  that  is,  a  son  of  the  true  one,  because  his  mother  said  to 
Elijah,  when  he  raised  him  from  the  dead  :  "  Now  I  know  that  the  word  of  thy  mouth  is 
truth  "  (1  K.  xvii.  24).  Believe  that  who  will,  I  do  not  believe  it;  but  his  father  was  called 
Amittai,  in  Latin  Verax  (true),  in  German  Wahrlich  (true),  and  was  of  Gath-Hepher,  which 
city  was  in  the  tribe  of  Zebulun  (Josh.  xix.  13  ;  2  K.  xiv.  25).  The  widow  of  Zarephath 
was  also  a  heathen,  as  Christ  informs  us  (Luke  iv.  26)  ;  but  Jonah  confesses  here  (chap.  i.  9), 
that  he  was  a  Hebrew. 

I  say  this,  therefore,  that  where  we  have  the  means,  it  is  very  well  to  know  at  what  time 
and  in  what  country  a  prophet  lived.  For  it  has  this  advantage,  that  we  can  better  under- 
stand his  book,  if  we  know  the  time,  place,  person,  and  history  [of  that  period].  We  find 
then  that  Jonah  lived  at  the  time  of  king  Jeroboam,  whose  grandfather  was  king  Jehu, 
when  king  Uzziah  reigned  in  Judah,  when  also  the  prophets,  Hosea,  Amos,  and  Joel  lived 
in  the  same  kingdom  of  Israel,  in  other  places  and  cities.  We  can  infer  how  eminently 
beloved  a  man  Jonah  was  in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  how  God  wrought  by  him  a  great 
work,  from  the  fact  that  through  his  preaching,  king  Jeroboam  was  so  successful  as  to  regain 
all  that  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  had  detached  from  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  to  which  he  had 
done  so  great  damage,  that  the  prophet  Elisha  wept  over  it,  before  it  came  to  pass  (2  K. 
viii.  11). 

Whether  Jonah  counseled  and  assisted  king  Jeroboam  before  his  experience  in  the  whale, 
and  at  Nineveh,  or  after  his  return  from  that  city,  cannot  be  shown  from  Scripture.  But  it 
is  probable  that  he  first  served  and  aided  king  Jeroboam  in  his  country,  until  he  had  again 
set  up  and  established  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  After  this  he  is  sent  of  God  out  of  his  own 
country  to  Nineveh.  For  in  his  own  country  he  had  learned  from  experience  how  kind  and 
gracious  God  was  to  the  idolatrous  kingdom  of  Israel ;  wherefore  he  expected  that  He  would 
also  be  as  kind  and  gracious  toward  Nineveh,  so  that  his  proclamation  would  be  in  vain  and 
fruitless,  as  he  himself  confesses,  and  is  angry  thereat  (ch.  iv.  1,  2). 

In  short,  such  was  the  state  of  the  world  in  the  time  of  Jonah,  that  the  supreme  kingdom 
or  empire  in  it,  was  in  Assyria,  at  Nineveh,  as  it  was  afterward  at  Babylon,  and  subsequently 
*t  Bome.  Besides,  there  were  at  this  time  the  other  kingdoms,  Syria,  Israel,  Judah,  Edom, 
Moab,  each  independent.  The  kingdom  of  Israel  prospered  under  king  Jeroboam  on  Jonah's 
iccount ;   so  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was  prosperous  under  king  Uzziah. 

Sack  :  Jonah  was  saved  from  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  preserved  in  the  body  of  the  sea- 


10  JONAH. 

monster,  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  repentance  to  the  Ninevites,  a  people  with  the  common 
mercies  of  Providence  thrown  around  them,  not  by  themselves,  but  by  Jehovah.  They 
thereupon  repent.  This  wonderful  preservation  for  the  eifective  preaching  of  repentance  took 
place,  and  was  recorded  just  as  it  happened,  that  it  might  be  a  type  of  the  Deliverer  of  the 
nation,  who  also  entered  the  depths  of  the  earth,  and  yet  was  preserved,  and  within  three 
days  was  made  alive,  and  who  was  to  perform  the  great  work  of  "  preaching  repentance  and 
remission  of  sins  among  all  nations"  (Luke  xxiv.  47),  with  results  so  much  more  victorious, 
and  under  the  opposition  of  Israel.  Some  one  besides  Jonah  might  have  preached  to  the 
Ninevites ;  and  Jonah  might  have  been  brought  to  do  it  in  some  other  way  than  by  a  won- 
derful deliverance ;  the  conversion  of  the  Ninevites  had  also  just  as  little  need  of  becoming 
a  portion  of  Biblical  history,  as  so  many  transient  returns  of  an  ancient  people  to  a  better 
state  of  piety,  have  had.  But  all  this  had  to  come  to  pass,  because  nothing  more  suitable 
oould  be  conceived  whereby  to  typify  the  greatest  deliverance,  by  means  of  which  the  most 
successful  sermon  on  repentance  was  to  become  possible.  As  Jonah's  preaching  to  the  Nin- 
evites was  against  his  will,  so  the  preaching  of  Christ  to  the  heathen  was  against  the  will  of 
Israel :  they  were  awakened  to  repentance,  and  the  Saviour  could  on  that  account  say  with 
such  significance :  "  No  other  sign  shall  be  given  to  this  generation  than  that  of  Jonah  the 
prophet,"  since  through  the  possibility  of  the  repetition  of  this  sign,  —  the  preservation  in 
the  depths  of  the  earth,  — just  the  strongest  proof  of  the  reprobate  character  of  this  gen- 
eration was  given.  This  is  not  done  away  by  the  passage  in  Luke  xi.  30,  where  that  genera- 
tion is  directly  compared  with  the  Ninevites ;  for  this  can  refer  only  to  the  experience  of 
such  wonderful  deliverance,  and  does  not  destroy  the  contrast  that  runs  through  all  these  pas- 
sages, between  the  baser  Jews  and  the  better  ancient  and  modern  heathen.  (Comp.  Matt. 
viii.  11.)  But  the  differences  that  Jonah  remained  alive  and  Christ  was  made  alive  ;  that 
Jonah  went  against  his  will ;  and  Christ,  out  of  love,  commanded  [his  disciples]  to  preach  to 
all  nations ;  that  Jonah  afterward  was  angry  thereat  [God's  sparing  Nineveh],  which  was 
exactly  repeated  in  the  case  of  Israel ;  —  all  these  are  naturally  founded  on  the  history  as  such, 
and  vanish  before  the  pervading  similarity  of  the  divine  method  of  dealing  before  and  after 
the  preaching  to  the  heathen.  Be  it  so,  that  before  the  appearance  of  the  Saviour,  pity  to 
the  heathen,  in  a  special  manner,  must  have  occurred  to  the  readers  of  Jonah  as  the  real 
sense  of  the  book ;  after  that  appearance,  mercy  displaying  itself,  in  the  giving  up  and  pres- 
ervation of  the  Messiah,  is  taken  as  the  true  sense  of  Jonah ;  and  this  sense  is  a  historico- 
typical  one. 

Keil :  The  mission  of  Jonah  is  a  fact  of  symbolical  and  typical  significance,  which  was 
intended  not  only  to  enlighten  Israel  as  to  the  position  of  the  heathen  world  in  relation  to 
the  kingdom  of  God,  but  at  the  same  time  to  typify  the  future  admission  of  the  heathen,  who 
observe  God's  word,  to  a  participation  of  the  salvation  prepared  in  Israel  for  all  nations. 
This,  however,  does  not  exhaust  the  deeper  meaning  of  the  history  of  Jonah.  It  reaches 
6till  further  and  culminates  in  the  typical  character  of  the  three  days'  sojourn  of  Jonah  in 
the  belly  of  the  fish,  of  which  Christ  informs  us,  when  He  referred  the  Jews  to  the  sign  of 
the  prophet  Jonah,  in  the  words  :  "  As  Jonah  was  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  whale's 
belly,  so  shall  the  Son  of  Man  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  heart  of  the  earth." 
(Matt.  xii.  40.)  In  order  to  understand  this  type,  that  is  to  say,  the  divinely  appointed  con- 
nection between  the  typical  event  and  its  antitype,  we  are  furnished  with  a  key  in  the  answer 
which  Jesus  gave,  when,  a  short  time  before  his  passion,  Philip  and  Andrew  told  Him,  that 
certain  Greeks,  among  those  who  had  come  up  to  worship  at  the  feast,  desired  to  see  Him. 
This  answer  consists  of  a  twofold  statement  (John  xii.  23  f.)  :  "  The  time  is  come  that  the 
Son  of  Man  should  be  glorified.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall 
into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone ;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit ; "  and 
xii.  32,  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  This  answer 
of  Jesus  amounts  to  this  :  that  the  time  for  the  admission  of  the  heathen  had  not  yet 
come  ;  but  in  the  words,  "  the  hour  is  come,"  etc.,  is  contained  the  explanation,  that  the 
heathen  have  only  to  wait  patiently  a  little  longer,  since  their  union  with  Christ,  with  which 
the  reply  concludes  (ver.  32),  is  directly  connected  with  the  glorification  of  the  Son  of  Man 
(Hengstenberg,  on  John  xii.  20).  This  declaration  of  our  Lord,  that  his  death  and  glorifi- 
cation are  necessary,  in  order  that  He  may  draw  all  men,  even  the  heathen,  to  himself,  or 
that  by  his  death  He  may  break  down  the  wall  of  partition,  by  which  the  heathen  till  then 
had  been  shut  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  at  which  He  had  already  hinted  in  John  x.  15,  16 


INTRODUCTION.  11 


teaches  us  to  recognize  the  history  of  Jonah  as  an  important,  significant  link  in  the  chain  of 
development  of  the  divine  plan  of  salvation. 

Niebuhr :  By  the  way,  we  must  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that  the  threatened,  but  revoked 
destruction  of  Nineveh,  has  reference  likely  to  the  shock  which  Nineveh  suffered  through  the 
revolt  of  Media  and  Babylon,  and  which  bears  wholly  the  character  of  a  postponed  over- 
throw of  the  kingdom.  The  destruction  is  to  occur  after  forty  days  (years).  Now  Jonah, 
the  son  of  Amittai  (2  K.  xiv.  25),  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  Jeroboam  II.  (about  75-34 
N.)  as  a  prophet.  There  is  nothing  said  as  to  the  time  when  Jonah  lived.  But  as  in  those 
times  it  was  the  rule  for  prophecies  to  have  reference  only  to  brief  periods,  it  is  probable 
that  Jonah  was  a  contemporary  of  Jeroboam,  and  that  he  prophesied  against  Nineveh  forty 
years  before  the  revolt  of  Media,  which  began  some  years  prior  to  I.  N. 

[O.  R.  Hertwig*s  Tables  give  the  following  summary  of  views  respecting  the  date  of  the 
Book :  — 

Keil  fixes  it  soon  after  the  events  recorded  in  it,  and  the  return  of  Jonah  to  his  native 
land. 

Others  place  it  at  a  later  time  for  the  following  reasons :  — 
(1.)   The  book  contains  Aramaisms,  which  indicate  a  later  age  than  that  of  the  events  which 

it  records.     (De  Wette.) 
(2.)    Chapter  iii.    3,   supposes  that   the   destruction  of  Nineveh  had  already  taken  place. 

(Ewald.) 
(3.)  ii.  3-10,  contains  many  reminiscences  from  the  Psalms. 
(4.)   Chapter  ii.  5,  8,  supposes  that  the  temple  had  been  rebuilt.      (Krahmer.) 

For  these  reasons  the  following  dates  have  been  assumed :  — 
(a.)  The  time  of  the  Assyrian  exile.     (Goldhorn.) 
(6.)    The  time  of  Josiah.     (Gesen.,  Rosenm.,  and  Berth.) 
(c.)    The  time  of  the  Babylonian  exile.      (Jager,  Kleinert.) 
(rf.)   The  post-exile  period.     (Jahn,  Knobel,  Kdster,  Ewald.) 
(e.)    After  the  year  515  b.  c.     (Krahmer.) 
(/.)  The  third  century.     (Vatke,  Bibl.  Theol.) 
(g.)   The  time  of  the  Maccabees.     (Hitzig.)  —  C.  E.] 

["It  is  the  uniform  tradition  among  the  Jews,  that  Jonah  himself  wrote  the  history  of  his 
mission  ;  and  on  this  principle  alone  the  book  was  placed  among  the  prophets.  For  no  books 
were  admitted  among  the  prophets  but  those  which  the  arranger  of  the  Canon  bcHeved  (if 
this  was  the  work  of  the  Great  Synagogue),  or  (if  it  was  the  work  of  Ezra),  kneiv  to  have 
been  written  by  persons  called  to  the  prophetic  office.  Hence  the  Psalms  of  David  (although 
many  are  prophetic,  and  our  Lord  declares  him  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost), 
and  the  book  of  Daniel  were  placed  in  a  separate  class,  because  their  authors,  although 
eminently  endowed  with  prophetic  gifts,  did  not  exercise  the  pastoral  offiVe  of  flip  Prophet. 
Histories  of  the  prophets,  as  Elijah  and  Elisha,  stand,  not  under  their  own  names,  but  in  the 
books  of  the  prophets  who  wrote  them.  Nor  is  the  book  of  Jonah  a  history  of  the  Prophet, 
but  of  that  one  mission  to  Nineveh.  Every  notice  of  the  prophet  is  omitted,  except  what 
bears  on  that  mission.  The  book  also  begins  with  just  that  same  authentication  with  which 
all  other  prophetic  books  begin.  As  Hosea  and  Joel  and  Mieah  and  Zephaniah  open,  "The 
word  of  the  Lord  that  came  unto  Hosea,"  Joel,  Micah,  Zephaniah ;  and  other  prophets  in 
other  ways  ascribe  their  books  not  to  themselves,  but  to  God,  so  Jonah  opens,  "And  the 
word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Jonah,  the  son  of  Amittai,  saying."  This  inscription  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  book ;  as  is  marked  by  the  word,  "  saying."  ....  The  words, 
"  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to,"  are  the  acknowledged  form  in  which  the  commission  of 
God  to  prophesy  is  recorded.  It  is  used  of  the  commission  to  deliver  a  simple  prophecy,  or 
it  describes  the  whole  collection  of  prophecies,  with  which  any  prophet  was  intrusted  :  "  The 
word  of  the  Lord  which  came  to  Micah  or  Zephaniah."  But  the  whole  history  of  the 
prophecy  is  bound  up  with,  and  a  sequel  of  these  words. 

"  Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  style  of  the  prophet  at  variance  with  this. 

"  It  is  strange,"  continues  Dr.  Pusey,  from  whom  these  observations  have  been  quoted, 
"  that  at  any  time  beyond  the  babyhood  of  criticism,  any  argument  should  be  drawn  from  thfc 
fact  that  the  Prophet  writes  of  himself  in  the  third  person.  Manly  criticism  has  been 
ashamed  to  use  the  argument  as  to  the  commentaries  of  Caesar,  or  the  Anabasis  of  Xenophon. 
However  the  genuineness  of  these  works  may  have  been  at  times  questioned,  here  we  were 
on  the  ground  of  genuine  criticism,  and  no  one  ventured  to  use   an   argrment  so  palpably 


12  JONAH. 

Idle.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  minds  so  different  as  Barhebraeus,  the  great  Jacobite  his- 
torian of  the  east,  and  Frederick  the  Great,  wrote  of  themselves  in  the  third  person ;  as  did 
also  Thucydides  and  Josephus,  even  after  they  had  attested  that  the  history  in  which  they 
so  speak,  was  written  by  themselves. 

But  the  real  ground  lies  much  deeper.  It  is  the  exception,  when  any  sacred  writer  speaks 
of  himself  in  the  first  person.  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  do  so;  for  they  are  giving  an  account, 
not  of  God's  dealings  with  his  people,  but  of  their  own  discharge  of  a  definite  office,  allotted 
to  them  by  man.  Solomon  does  so  in  Ecclesiastes,  because  he  is  giving  the  history  of  his 
own  experience ;  and  the  vanity  of  all  human  things,  in  themselves,  could  be  attested  so 
impressively  by  no  one.  as  by  one  who  had  all  which  man's  mind  could  imagine. 

On  the  contrary,  the  prophets,  unless  they  speak  of  God's  revelations  to  them,  speak  of 
themselves  in  the  third  person.  Thus  Amos  relates  in  the  first  person,  what  God  showed 
him  in  vision  ;  for  God  spoke  to  him,  and  he  answered  and  pleaded  with  God.  In  relating 
his  persecution  by  Amaziah,  he  passes  at  once  to  the  third  :  "  Amaziah  said  to  Amos :  Then 
answered  Amos  and  said  to  Amaziah  (Amos  vii.  12,  14).  In  like  way,  Isaiah  speaks  of  him 
self  in  the  third  person,  when  relating  how  God  sent  him  to  meet  Ahaz,  commanded  him  to 
walk  three  years,  naked  and  barefoot ;  Hezekiah's  message  to  him,  to  pray  for  his  people, 
and  his  own  prophetic  answer ;  his  visit,  to  Hezekiah  in  the  king's  sickness,  his  warning  to 
him,  his  prophecy  of  his  recovery,  the  sign  which  at  God's  command  Isaiah  gave  him,  and 
the  means  of  healing  he  appointed." 

Dr.  Pusey  instances  the  other  prophets,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Haggai,  Moses ;  in  the  New 
Testament,  St.  John,  who  styles  himself,  when  referring  to  himself,  "  the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved." 

"  As  for  the  few  words  which  persons  who  disbelieved  in  miracles  selected  out  of  the  book  of 
Jonah  as  a  plea  for  removing  it  far  down  beyond  the  period  when  those  miracles  took  place, 
they  rather  indicate  the  contrary.  They  are  all  genuine  Hebrew  words  or  forms,  except  the 
one  Aramaic  name  for  the  decree  of  the  king  of  Nineveh,  which  Jonah  naturally  heard  in 
Nineveh  itself. 

u  A  writer,1  equally  unbelieving,  who  got  rid  of  the  miracles  by  assuming  that  the  book  of 
Jonah  was  meant  only  for  a  moralizing  fiction,  found  no  counter-evidence  in  the  language, 
but  ascribed  it  unhesitatingly  to  the  Jonah,  son  of  Amittai,  who  prophesied  in  the  reign  of 
Jeroboam  II.  He  saw  the  nothingness  of  the  so-called  proof,  which  he  had  no  longer  any 
interest  in  maintaining. 

"  The  examination  of  these  words  will  require  a  little  detail,  yet  it  may  serve  as  a  speci- 
men (it  is  no  worse  than  its  neighbors)  of  the  way  in  which  the  disbelieving  school  picked 
out  a  few  words  of  a  Hebrew  prophet  or  section  of  a  prophet,  in  order  to  disparage  the  gen- 
uineness of  what  they  did  not  believe." 

I  will  condense  Dr.  Pusey's  remarks  on  the  words  in  question.     The  words  are  these :  — 

(1.)  "  The  word  sephinali,  lit.  '  a  decked  vessel,'  is  a  genuine  Hebrew  word  from  saphan, 
covered,  ceiled.  The  word  was  borrowed  from  the  Hebrew,  not  by  Syrians  or  Chaldees  only, 
but  by  the  Arabians,  in  none  of  which  dialects  is  it  an  original  word.  A  word  plainly  is 
original  in  that  language  in  which  it  stands  connected  with  other  meanings  of  the  same  root, 
and  not  in  that  in  which  it  stands  isolated.  Naturally,  too,  the  term  for  a  decked  vessel 
would  be  borrowed  by  inland  people,  as  the  Syrians,  from  a  nation  living  on  the  sea-shore, 
not  conversely.  This  is  the  first  occasion  for  mentioning  a  decked  vessel.  It  is  related  that 
Jonah  went  in  fact '  below  deck,'  '  was  gone  down  into  the  sides  of  the  decked  vessel.'  Three 
times  in  those  verses,  when  Jonah  did  not  wish  to  express  that  the  vessel  was  decked,  he 
uses  the  common  Hebrew  word,  oniyyah.  It  was  then  of  set  purpose  that  he,  in  the  same 
verse,  used  the  two  words,  onii/yah  and  sephinali. 

2.  "  Mallach  is  also  a  genuine  Hebrew  word,  from  melach,  salt  sea,  as  dXuvi,  from  aAs, 
'  salt,'  then  (masc.)  in  poetry,  '  brine.' 

3.  "  Rab  hachobel,  '  chief  of  the  sailors,'  '  captain.'  Rab  is  Phoenician  also,  and  this  was 
a  Phoenician  vessel.      Chobel,  which  is  joined  with  it,  is  a  Hebrew,  not  Aramaic  word. 

4.  "  Ribbo,  '  ten  thousand,'  they  say  is  a  word  of  later  Hebrew.  It  occurs  in  a  Psalm  of 
David  and  in  Hosea. 

5  "  Vith'ashehath,  'thought,  purposed,'  is  also  an  old  Hebrew  word.  The  root  occurs  in 
Job,  a  Psalm,  and  tin-  Cantiqles.  In  the  Syriac  it  does  not  occur,  n:r  in  the  extant  Chaldee^ 
In  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  by  Jonah. 

1  Paulua. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 


6.  "  The  use  of  the  abridged  forms  of  the  relative  she  for  asher,  twice  in  composite  words 
beshellemi,  beshelli  (the  fuller  form,  baasher  lemi,  also  occurring),  and  once  in  union  with  the 
noun  shebbin. 

"  There  is  absolutely  no  plea  whatever  for  making  this  an  indication  of  a  later  style,  and 
yet  it  occurs  in  every  string  of  words,  which  have  been  assumed  to  be  indications  of  such  style. 
It  is  not  Aramaic  at  all,  but  Phoenician  and  Old  Hebrew.  In  Phoenician,  esh  is  the  relative. 
which  corresponds  the  more  with  the  Hebrew  in  that  the  following  letter  was  doubled,  as  in  the 
Punic  words  in  Plautus,  syllohom,  siddoberim,  it  enters  into  two  proper  name.-,  both  of  which 
occur  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  one,  only  there ;  Methushael,  '  a  man  of  God,'  and  Mishael,  the 
same  as  Michael,  '  Who  is  like  God  ?  '  lit.  '  Who  is  what  God  is  ?  '  Probably  it  occurs  also 
in  the  Pentateuch  in  the  ordinary  language.  Perhaps  it  is  used  more  in  the  dialect  of  North 
Palestine.  It  is  frequently  used  in  the  Song  of  Solomon.  In  Ecclesiastes  it  occurs  sixty- 
six  times.  Of  books  which  are  really  later,  it  does  not  occur  in  Jeremiah's  prophecies, 
Ezekiel,  Daniel,  or  any  of  the  six  later  of  the  minor  prophets,  nor  in  Nehemiah  or  Esther. 
It  occurs  only  once  in  Ezra,  and  twice  in  the  first  Book  of  Chronicles,  whereas  it  occurs  four 
times  in  the  Judges,  and  once  in  the  Kings,  and  once  probably  in  Job. 

7.  "  Manah,  '  appoint,  or  prepare,'  occurs  in  a  Psalm  of  David. 

8.  "  Taam,  '  decree.'  This  is  a  Syriac  word,  and  accordingly,  since  it  has  now  been  ascer- 
tained beyond  all  question,  that  the  language  of  Nineveh  was  a  dialect  of  Syriac,  it  was,  with 
a  Hebrew  pronunciation,  the  very  word  used  of  this  decree  at  Nineveh.  The  employment 
of  the  special  word  is  a  part  of  the  same  accuracy  with  which  Jonah  relates  that  the  decree 
was  issued,  not  from  the  king  only,  but  from  the  king  and  his  nobles,  one  of  those  minute 
touches  which  occur  in  the  writings  of  those  who  describe  what  they  have  seen. 

"  Out  of  the  eight  words,  or  forms,  three  are  naval  terms,  and  since  Israel  was  no  seafaring 
people,  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  history,  that  these  terms  should  first  occur  in  the  first 
prophet  who  left  the  land  of  his  mission  by  sea.  So  it  is  also,  that  an  Assyrian  technical 
term  should  first  occur  in  a  prophet  who  had  been  sent  to  Nineveh."  (Pusey's  Tntrod.  to  the 
Book  of  Jonah.) 

The  writer  of  the  article  on  Jonah,  in  Kitto's  Biblical  Cyclopmdia,  is  of  the  opinion,  that 
the  Chaldaisms  in  the  book  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  nearness  of  the  Canton  of  Zebulon, 
to  which  Jonah  belonged,  to  the  northern  territory,  whence  by  national  intercourse  Aramaic 
peculiarities  might  be  insensibly  borrowed.  —  C.  E.] 

V.    Literature. 

Separate  Commentaries.  —  [M.  Luther,  Der  Proph.  Jona  ausgel.,  Wittenb.,  1520.  8vo. 
—  C.  E.]  J.  Leusden,  Jonas  illustratus  (Obadiah),  Traj.,  1656.  12mo.  A.  Pfeiffer,  Prcelec- 
tiones  in  Proph.  Jona,  Viteb.,  1671.  4to  (3  vols.  ibid.  1701).  Joh.  Gerhardt,  Adnotatt.  in  Amos 
et  Jonah,  Jen.,  1676.  4to.  F.  A.  Christianus,  Jonas  illustratus,  Lps.,  1683.  J.  Cocceius,  Comm. 
in  Jonam,  in  Opp.  t.  iii.,  Francof.  ad  M.,  1689.  H.  A.  Grimm,  Der  Prophet  Jonas  auf,  s 
Neue  iibersetzt,  mit  erlduternden  Anmerkungen,  Diisseld.,  1789.  Sibthorp,  Auslegung  des 
Buchs  Jona,  Stuttg.,  1843.     Fr.  Kaulen,  Lib.  Jonce  expos.,  Mog.,  1862. 

Treatises  and  Monographs.  —  H.  v.  d.  Hardt,  Jonas  in  Carcharia,  Helmst.,  1718  ;  Jonas 
sub  Sillicyprio,  H.  1718  ;  JEnigmata  Jona;,  H.  1719  ;  Elias,  Elisa,  Jonas  ex  Hist,  et  Geogr.  vetere 
restituti,  H.,  1719  ;  Das  Licht  Jona  aus  der  Geschichte  der  Gessuriter,  H.  1720  ;  JEnigmata  prisci 
Orbis,  H.  1723.  V.  Seelen,  Examen  hypoth.  exeg.  de  Jona  cenigmatico.  in  meditt.  exegg.,  Lub. 
1732.  J.  Th.  Lessing,  Observationes  in  vatt.  J.  et  Nahuini.,  Chemn.,  1780.  Th.  E.  Piper, 
Diss.  Critico-biblica,  Historiam  J.  a  Recentiorum  Conatibus  Vindicatam  sistens,  Gryph.,  1786. 
Thaddaus  Adam,  Die  Sendungsgesch.  d.  Proph.  Jona*,  Kritisch  untersucht  u.  v.  Widersprii- 
chen  gerettet,  Bonn,  1786.  J.  Ch.  Hopfner,  Curarum  critt.  exegett.  in  LXX.  vers.  vatt.  J. 
specimen,  Lps.,  1787,  f.  4.  B.  Kordes,  Observation um  in  Oracc.  J.  specimen,  Jenae,  1788.  H. 
Benzenberg,  Ein  Paar  Recensionen  aus  Herzensgrund,  Frkf.  u.  Lpz.,  1789.  L.  N.  Fallesen, 
Prophetie  Jonas,  in  Magazin  for  Religionslcerere,  Kjbbenh,  1792,  Bd.  2.  H.  C.  Griesdorf,  De 
verisimiUima  I.  Jonoe  interpretandi  Ratione,  W.,  1794,  2  Th.  Paulus,  Zweck  der  Parabel  Jonah, 
in  den  Memorabb.,  1794,  S.  35-38.  J.  G.  A.  Moller,  Jonah  eine  moralische  Erzahlung ;  ibid. 
S.  157  f.  J.  C.  Nachtigall,  Uber  das  Buch  mit  der  Aufschrift  Jonas,  in  Eichh.  Bibliothek, 
1799,  S.  221  ff.  Sonnenmayer,  Meine  Ansicht  der  Stelle  Mail-.*,  xii.  38  ff.  in  Augusti,  s.  Man- 
itschrift,  1802.  1,  4,  S.  255  ff.  J.  D.  Goldhorn,  Excurse  zum  Buch  Jonas,  Lpz.,  1803.  J.  H. 
Verschuir,  De  A  ryumt  nto  Libelli  Jonas,  ejusque  Veritas  Histnrica,  in  Opp.  ed.  Lotze,  Traj.,  1810, 


14  JONAH. 

P.  Friedrichsen,  Kritische  Ubersicht  der  verschiedenen  Ansichfen  uber  Jonas,  Lpz.,  1817;  2 
AufL,  1841.  J.  C.  Reindl,  Die  Serdungsgesch.  des  Prophet  en  Jonas  nach  Nineveh,  Bamb., 
1826.  Forbiger,  Coram,  de  Lycophr.  Cassandri  v.  31-37,  cum  epimetro  de  Jona,  Lps.,  1827. 
Evangelische  Kirchenzeitung,  1834,  n.  27-29.  G.  Laberenz,  De  vera  Libri  Jonas  interpretatione, 
Fuld.,  1836.  Ch.  F.  Bbhme,  Uber  das  Buck  Jonah,  in  Illgens  Zeitschr,  2836,  I.  S.  195  ff. 
F.  Ch.  Baur,  Der  Prophet  Jonas,  ein  assyrisch-babylonUches  Symbol.,  Ebendas.  1837,  1.  90  If. 
A.  W.  Krahmer,  Der  Schriftforscher,  I.  Kassel,  1839.  Jiiger,  Uber  den  sittlich-religiosen 
Endzweck  d.  B.  J.  u.  s.  w.  in  der  (Baur-Kern'schen)  Tub.  Zeitschr.,  1840,  I.  35  ff.  F.  De- 
litzsch,  Etwas  uber  das  Buch  Jonah;  in  the  Rudelbach-Guericke'schen  Zeitschr.,  Lpz.,  1840, 
II.  M.  Baumgarten,  Uber  die  Zeichen  des  Propheten  Jonas,  ibid.,  1842,  II.  1  f.  .  .  .  Vgl.  aus- 
eerdem,  Semler,  Apparat.  ad  Liber.  V.  T.  Interpretationem,  p.  269.  Niemeyer,  Charakteristik, 
der  Bibel,  Theil  5.  Eichhorn,  Einleitung  (4  Aufl.),  1823,  f.  sec.  576  ff.  Pareau,  Institut. 
interpret,  1822,  p.  534.  Sack,  Christliche  Apologetik,  1826,  S.  345  ff.  M.  v.  Niebuhr, 
Geschichte  Assur's  und  Babel's,  1857 ;  Beilage  iii.,  Jonah  und  Nineveh,  S.  274  ff. 

Devotional  and  Practical.  —  Lavater,  Predigten  uber  das  Buch  Jonas,  Zurich,  1773,  2 
Aufl.  in  2  Banden,  Winterth.  1782.  Hbselen,  Jonas  Bekehrtes  Ninive,  54  Reden,  Lpz.,  1816. 
Ed.  Neander,  Der  Prophet  Jona.  Predigten,  Mitau,  1842.  Quandt,  Jonas  der  Sohn  Amithai, 
Berlin,  1866.      [See  Gen.  Lit.  of  the  Minor  Prophets.— C.  E.] 

[Hugh  Martin,  The  Prophet  Jonah :  His  Character  and  Mission  to  Nineveh,  London  and 
New  York.  1866.  Patrick  Fairbairn,  Jonah :  His  Life,  Character,  and  Mission,  viewed  in 
Connection  with  the  Prophet's  own  Times,  and  Future  Manifestations  of  God's  Mind  and  Will 
in  Prophecy,  T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh,  1849.  —  C.  E.] 


JONAH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Prophet's  Commission  to  preach  against  Nineveh,  and  his  Attempt  to  evade  it 
(jrers.  1-3).  A  Violent  Storm  arises ;  Alarm  of  the  Sailors  :  Means  adopted 
for  their  Safety  ;  Detection  of  Jonah  ;  he  is  thrown  into  the  Sea,  and  is  sival- 
lowed  by  a  Fish  (vers.  4-16).  —  C.  E.] 

1  Now  [And]  the  word  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  unto  [was  communicated  to] 

2  Jonah,1  the  son  of  Amittai.2    Arise,3  go  to  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  and  cry  4  [pro- 

3  claim]  against  it ;  for  5  their  wickedness  is  [has]  come  up  before  me.  But  [And] 
Jonah  rose  up  to  flee  unto  Tarshish  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and 
went  down  to  Joppa  ;  and  he  \_omit,  he]  found  a  ship  6  going  to  Tarshish  :  so  he  paid 
[and  paid]  the  fai'e  thereof,  and  went  down  into  it,  to  go  with  them  unto  Tarshish 

4  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  But  [And]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  sent 
out 7  a  great  wind  into  the  sea,  and  there  was  a  mighty  [great]  tempest  in  the  sea, 

5  so  that  [and]  the  ship  was  like  to  be  broken.8  Then  [And]  the  mariners  9  were 
afraid,  and  cried  every  man  [each]  unto  his  god,  and  cast  forth  the  wares  10  that 
were  in  the  ship  into  the  sea,  to  lighten  it  of  them.10  But  [And]  Jonah  was  gone 
down  [had  gone  down]  into  the  sides  [the  interior]  of  the  ship  ; u  and  he  lay,  and 

6  was  fast  asleep.  So  [And]  the  shipmaster  12  came  [came  near]  to  him,  and  said 
unto  [to]  him,  What  meanest  thou,  O  sleeper  ?  Arise,  call  upon  [to]  thy  God,  if 
so  be  that  [perhaps]  God  13  will  think  upon  us,  that  we  perish  not  [and  we  shall 

7  not  perish].  And  they  said  every  one  to  his  fellow  [to  each  other],  Come,  and 
let  us  cast  lots,  that  we  may  know  [and  we  shall  know]  for  whose  cause  14  [on  ac- 
count of  whom]  this  evil  is  upon  us.     So  [And]  they  cast  lots,  and  the  lot  fell  upon 

8  Jonah.  Then  said  they  [And  they  said]  unto  [to]  him,  Tell  us,  we  pray  thee,  for 
whose  cause  this  evil  is  upon  us ; 15  What  is  thine  occupation  ?  and  whence  coni- 

9  est  thou  ?  what  is  thy  country  ?  and  of  what  people  art  thou  ?  And  he  said  unto 
[to]  them,  I  am  an  Hebrew  ;  and  I  fear  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  the  God  of  heaven, 

10  which  [who]  hath  made  \_omit,  hath]  the  sea  and  the,  dry  land.  Then  were  the 
men  [And  the  men  were]  exceedingly  afraid,  and  said  unto  [to]  him,  Why  hast 
thou  done  this  ?  16  [What  is  this  thou  hast  done  ?]  For  the  men  knew  that  he 
fled  [was  fleeing]  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  because  he  had  told 

11  them.  Then  said  they  [And  they  said]  unto  [to]  him,  What  shall  we  do  unto 
thee,  that  the  sea  may  be  calm  unto  us  [may  subside  from  against  us]  ?  for  the  sea 
wrought   and  was    tempestuous17   [was   increasing   and   rushing    tempestuously]. 

12  And  he  said  unto  [to]  them,  Take  me  up,  and  cast  me  forth  into  the  sea,  so  shall 
the  sea  [And  the  sea  shall]  be  calm  unto  you  [subside  from  against  you]  :  for  I 

13  know  that  for  my  sake18  this  great  tempest  is  upon  you.  Nevertheless  [And]  the 
men  rowed  19  [broke  through,  viz.,  the  waves]  hard  to  bring  it  to  the  land  [to  bring 
to  land]  ;  but  they  could  not,  for  the  sea  wrought,  and  was  tempestuous  [was  in- 

14  creasing  and  rushing  tempestuously]  against  them.  Wherefore  [And]  they  cried 
unto  [to]  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  said,  We  beseech  thee,  O  Lord  [O  now  Jeho- 
vah], let  us  not  perish  for  this  man's  life,20  and  lay  not  upon  us  innocent  blood  • 

15  for  thou,  O  Lord  [Jehovah],  hast  done  as  it  pleased  thee.  So  [And]  they  took  up 
Jonah,  and  cast  him  forth  into  the  sea :  und  the  sea  ceased  [stood]  from  its  raging 


16 


JONAH. 


1 6  Then  [And]  the  men  feared  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  exceedingly,  and  offered  a  sacri 
fice  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  made  vows. 

TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1.  —  n^T",  Jonah,  signifies  a  dove. 

p  Ver.  1.  —  V-lttN,  Amittai,  means  veracious,  or  truthful. 

[8  Ver.  2.  —  D-lp,  arise,  used  before  another  verb  as  a  term  of  excitement. 

[4  Ver.  2.  —  K^p,  cry,  proclaim  in  the  manner  of  a  herald,  or  prophet. 

[6  Ver  2.  —  ^3,  for,  may  be  used  here  as  the  relative  conjunction  that;  but  it  probably  assigns  a  reason  for  Um 
SMnmand,  and  hence  it  is  rendered  because. 

[•  Ver    3-  —  ns2S,  ship,  generally  any  large  merchant-ship. 

[7  Ver.  4.  —  7^l2r"F,  Hiphil  of  V-1T2,  to  throw  down  at  full  length,  to  prostrate. 

[8  Ver.  4.  — "QtSTlV  Hilton,  used  metaphorically  of  inanimate  things  ;  to  be  about  to  do,  or  suffer:  the  ship  uxu 
about  to  be  broken,  was  on  the  point  of  foundering.     Gesenius'  Heb.  Lex.  sub   3t£7n. 

[9  Ver.  5.  —  n^rTvSrT,  the  mariners,  from  H^XS,  salt,  the  quality  of  the  water  which  they  navigate. 

[10  Ver.  5.  —  DN  v3,  vessels,  a  general  term  comprehending  wares.  The  suffix  DFT  refers  to  the  persons,  not  to  the 
wares. 

[11  Ver.  5.  —  J!  S^QDn  ^.TO'T'^  tue  sides,  or  two  sides  of  the  vessel.  Sephinah  is  derived  from  Saphan,  to  cover  ; 
It  signifies  a  decked  vessel. 

[12  Ver.  6.  —  ^3nn   3"1,  the  master  of  the  rope-men. 

[18  Ver.  6.  —  D^nbsn,  the  god,  with  the  article. 

[14  Ver.  7.  —  *72^)W!l,for  that  which  is  to  whom  :  compounded  of  the  preposition  2,  the  relative  pronoun  W,  con- 
tracted from  "ltt'S,  the  preposition  V,  and  the  interrogative  ^72. 

[15  Ver.  8.  —  The  words  ^b   ilS-TH    n^"1H    ^72*7  ~ltPH3,  are   omitted  in  two  of  Kennicott's  MSS.  in  the 

*■  T  T  T    T  •     :  V  -:  "' 

Soncin.  edition  of  the  prophets,  and  in  the  Vatican  copy  of  the  LXX.  :   and  Kennicott's  MS.  154,  omits  ^!2  V.    Henderson. 

[16  Ver.  10.  —  jT W2  nS-TTttt,  VVhat  is  this  thou  hast  done  !  not,  why  hast  thou  done  this  ? 

[17  Ver.  11.  —  Tjbin,  going,  ~13?^j  tossing :  they  are  both  participles. 

[18  Ver.  12.  —  *  vt^S,  on  my  account,  compounded  of  the  preposition  3,  the  relative  27,  contracted  as  in  v.  7,  the 
preposition  7,  and  the  pronominal  suffix  \ 

[19  Ver.  13.  —  Vlfrn^l,  broke  through,  "inn  signifies  to  break  through  a  wall,  and  metaphorically  to  break 
through  the  waves. 

J20  Ver.  14.  —  t£7523,  for  the  sake  of  the  soul,  or  life,  as  in  2  Sam.  xiv.  7.     See  also  Deut.  xlx.  21.  —  C.  B.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   CRITICAL. 

Ver.  1-3.  The  Command  and  the  Flight.  Com- 
pare on  ver.  1  the  Introduction,  §  2,  p.  13. 

"  The  narrative  begins,  according  to  usage,  with 
the  copula  [conjunction  vav.  C.  E.],  because  every 
event  in  time  follows  upon  an  antecedent  one  ;  and 
the  record  of  that  event  is  always  only  a  continua- 
tion of  something  prior,  and  separately  considered 
forms  a  fragment."  (Hitzig,  Compare  Ruth  i.  1  ; 
1  Sam.  i.  1.) 

["  From  the  circumstance  that  the  book  com- 
mences with  the  conjunction  1,  commonly  rendered 
and,  some  have  inferred  that  it  is  merely  the  frag- 
ment of  a  larger  work,  written  by  the  same  hand ; 
but  though  this  particle  is  most  commonly  used  to 
connect  the  following  sentence  with  something 
which  precedes  it,  and  is  placed  at  the  beginning  of 
historical  books  to  mark  their  connection  with  a 
foregoing  narrative,  as  Ex.  i.  1  ;  1  Kings  i.  1  ;  Ezra 
'.  1  ;  yet  it  is  also  employed  inchoatively  where 
ihere  is  no  connection  whatever,  as  Ruth  i.  1 ;  Esth. 
1. 1  ;  and,  as  specially  parallel,  Ezek.  i.  1.  It  serves 
to  otner  purpose  in  such  cases  than   merely  to 


qualify  the  apocopated  future,  so  as  to  make  it  rep 
resent  the  historical  past  tense."  (Henderson,  Corn, 
on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  l.j 

"  This  form,  'And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
to  — ,  saying,'  occurs  over  and  over  again,  stringing 
together  the  pearls  of  great  price  of  God's  revela- 
tions, and  uniting  this  new  revelation  to  all  those 
which  had  preceded  it.  The  word  And,  then  joins 
on  histories  with  histories,  revelations  with  revela- 
tions, uniting  in  one  the  histories  of  God's  works 
and  words,  and  blending  the  books  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture into  one  Divine  book."  (Pusey,  Com.  on  Jo- 
nah, chap.  i.  1 .) 

"  Sometimes  a  book  commences  with  the  relative 
past  form  of  the  substantive  verb,  in  consequence 
of  the  writer's  viewing  it  as  the  continuation  of  a 
preceding  one  (Lev.  i.  1  ;  Num.  i.  1  ;  Josh.  i.  1  ; 
Jud^-.  i.  1).  Books  are  also  found  to  rommence 
in  this  manner  which  have  no  actual  reference  to  a 
preceding  one;  in  such  cases  the  writer  plunges  at 
once  in  medias  res,  regarding  what  he  is  al»out  to 
record  as  connected  to  foregoing  events,  at  least  in 
the  order  of  time  (Ezek.  i.  1  ;  Jonah  i.  1  ;  Ruth  L 
I  ;  Esther  i.  1).  (Noidheimer'sJETe6.  Gram.  Syntax 
§976,  2).—  C.  E.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


11 


Ver.  2.  Nineveh,  the  capital  of  Assyria,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Tigris,  is  called  the  great  city, 
«ar'  efox')"!  here  as  in  Gen.  x.  12,  where  the  addi- 
tional clause,  "  the  same  is  a  great  city,"  includes 
the  four  previously,  separately  named  cities,  which, 
in  a  wider  sense,  constituted  the  city  of  Nineveh. 
It  was,  according  to  Diodor.  ii.  3,  the  greatest 
city  of  antiquity.  Its  circumference  was  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty  furlongs  —  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
furlongs  greater  than  that  of  Babylon.  Its  diam- 
eter was  (Herodotus,  v.  25) :  ['J J  one  hundred  and 
fifty  furlongs ;  consequently  a  good  day's  jour- 
ney. Upon  its  walls,  10U  feet  high,  flanked  with 
fifteen  hundred  towers,  each  two  hundred  feet  high, 
four  [some  say  three,  C.  E.]  chariots  could  drive 
abreast.  The  three  days'  journey,  which,  accord- 
ing to  chap.  iii.  3,  one  could  travel  within  the  city, 
cannot  appear  an  incredible  statement,  if  we  con- 
sider that  it  rilled,  together  with  the  adjoining  cities 
united  to  it  by  the  same  fortifications,  the  whole 
space  between  the  rivers  Tigris,  Khosr,  the  Upper 
or  Great  Zab,  the  Gasr  Su,  and  the  mountainous 
boundary  of  the  valley  of  the  Tigris  on  the  east ; 
and  that  the  rubbish  and  ruin  covered  mounds, 
which  indicate  the  locality  of  the  desolated  city, 
and  which  tor  twenty-five  years  have  been  accessi- 
ble to  the  investigations  of  learned  men,  occupy 
an  area  of  about  eighteen  square  miles  [German 
miles  =  378  Eng.  sq.  miles  —  C.  E.|  Comp.  Ewald, 
Bib.  Jour.,  x.  52  ff. ;  J.  Oppert,  Expe'd.  Scientifique 
en  Me'sopotamie,  Paris,  1862,  ii.  67,  72,  82  f.  ;  M.  v. 
Niebuhr,  Hist,  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  p.  274  ff.) 

^Niueveh,  according  to  Gen.  x.  11,  was  built  by 
Nimrod.  The  verse  should  probably  be  read  : 
"Out  of  that  land  he  [Nimrod]  went  forth  into 
Asshur  [Assyria],  and  builded  Nineveh,  and  the 
city  Rehoboth  and  Calah."  According  to  the 
Greek  and  Roman  authors,  it  was  founded  by 
Ninus,  the  mythical  founder  of  the  Assyrian  em- 
pire ;  and  its  name  appears  to  be  derived  from  his, 
or  from  that  of  an  Assyrian  deity,  Nin,  correspond- 
ing, it  is  conjectured,  with  the  Greek  Hercules.  In 
the  time  of  Jonah,  it  had  probably  attained  to  its 
greatest  extent.  It  formed  a  trapezium,  and  con- 
sequently could  have  no  one  diameter.  Its  sharp 
angles  lay  towards  the  north  and  south,  and  its 
long  sides  were  formed  by  the  Tigris  and  the  moun- 
tains. The  average  length  was  about  twenty-five 
English  miles  ;  the  average  breadth,  fifteen.  This 
large  extent  of  area  includes  Nineveh  in  its  broad- 
er sense,  which  was  a  union  of  four  large  prime- 
val cities.  Nintveh  proper,  including  the  ruins  of 
Kouyunjik,  Nobbi  Yunas,  and  Ninua,  is  situated 
at  the  northwestern  corner,  near  the  Tigris.  Nim- 
rud,  supposed  to  be  the  later  capital,  and  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  Rawliuson,  Jones,  and  Oppert,  was 
the  ancient  Calah,  is  at  the  southwestern  corner, 
between  the  Tigris  and  Zab ;  a  third  large  city, 
whicli  is  now  without  a  name,  and  which  has  been 
explored  lea*t  of  all,  is  oa  the  Tigris  itself,  from 
three  to  six  English  miles  to  the  north  of  Nimrud  ; 
and  the  citadel  and  temple-mass,  now  named  Khor- 
sabad,  is  situated  on  the  Khosr.  (Compare  Keil 
and  Delitzsch  on  the  Minor  Prophets ;  Kitto's  Bib- 
lical Cyclopedia  ;  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  ; 
Layard's  Nineveh  and  its  Remains;  Rawlinson's 
Herodotus,  Book  I.,  Appendix,  Essay  vii.)  —  C.  E.] 

Preach  against  it  is  God's  command  to  Jonah ; 
that  is,  go  and  deliver  to  its  face,  a  call  to  re- 
pentance [Eine  Busspredigt].  He  does  not  say, 
preach  merely  concerning  it ;  for  Jonah,  as  other 

1  [Herodotus  mentions  Nineveh,  Book  I.  103,  106,  185, 
196;  BookH.  160.  —  C.  E.] 

2 


prophets  did,  could  have  done  that  in  nis  own  land 
Neither  does  he  say  merely  to  it ;  for  that  would 

have  been  expressed  by  ••??  or  v.  But  God  will 
have  him  preach  against  Nineveh,  because  its  wick' 
edness  had  come  up  before  Him  as  in  former  time* 
the  wickedness  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  had  dona 
(comp.  Gen.  xviii.  21,  with  G>n.  vi.  5). 

Ver.  3.  Jonah  arose,  but  to  nee,  and  that  from 
the  presence  of  Jehovah,  that  is,  from  the  people 
and  land  of  Israel,  to  which  he  imagined  the  pres- 
ence of  God  to  be  limited,  as  Jacob,  when  he  was 
astonished  at  discovering  the  presence  of  God  be- 
yond the  home  of  his  father  [Vaterlichen  Erde\. 
(Gen.  xxviii.  16.) 

["  The  belief  in  the  omnipresence  of  God  was  a 
part  of  the  faith  of  Abraham's  house.  And  that 
God  was  even  present  here  he  did  not  first  learn  on 
this  occasion  (as  Knobel  seems  to  think),  but  it  is 
new  to  him  that  Jehovah,  as  the  covenant  God, 
revealed  Himself  not  only  at  the  consecrated  altars 
of  his  fathers,  but  even  here."  (Lange  on  Gen. 
xxviii.  16.) 

"It  has  been  asked,  '  How  could  a.  Prophet  im- 
agine that  he  could  flee  from  the  presence  of  God ''.  ' 
Plainly  he  could  not.  Jonah,  so  conversant  with 
the  Psalms,  doubtless  knew  well  the  Psalm  of 
David,  '  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit,  and 
whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ( '  He  could 
not  but  know,  what  every  instructed  Israelite  knew. 
And  so  critics  should  have  known  that  such  could 
not  be  the  meaning.  The  words  are  used,  as  we 
say,  '  he  went  out  of  the  king's  presence,'  or  the 
like.  It  is,  literally,  he  rose  to  flee  from  being  in 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,  i.  e.,  from  standing  in 
his  presence  as  his  servant  and  minister."  (Intro- 
duction to  the  Prophet  Jonah,  by  the  Rev.  E.  Ii. 
Pusey,  D.  D.,  p.  247.) 

Dr.  Pusey  illustrates  his  interpretation  by  a  large 
number  of  references  to  the  use  of  the  expression 

\]3yO,  in  the  notes  to  the  passage  quoted  above. 
The  explanation  of  Keil  and  Delitzsch  (Com.  on 
Jonah,  chap.  i.  3)  is  essentially  the  same  :  "  from 
the  face  of  Jehovah,  *'.  e.,  away  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  out  of  the  land  of  Israel,  where  Je- 
hovah dwelt  in  the  temple,  and  manifested  his 
presence  (comp.  Gen.  iv.  16);  not  to  hide  him- 
self from  the  omnipresent  God,  but  to  withdraw 
from  the  service  of  Jehovah,  the  God-King  of  Is- 
rael." 

Henderson  (Com.   on   Jonah,   chap.  i.  3),  says: 

HV"P  "*22,  which  strictly  means  the  face,  per- 
son, or  presence  of  Jehovah,  is  sometimes  employed 
to  denote  the  special  manifestation  of  his  presence, 
or  certain  outward  and  visible  tokens  by  which  He 
made  Himself  loealjy  known.  Thus  God  prom- 
ised that  hi*  presence  (^22),  i.  e.,  the  sensible  tokens 
of  his  presence,  should  accompany  the  Hebrews  on 
their  march  to  Canaan  (Ex.  xxxiii.  14.  Comp. 
Ps.  ix.  3  ;  lxviii.  2,  8).  It  is  also  employed  in  ref- 
erence to  the  place  or  region  where  such  manifesta- 
tions were  vouchsafed,  as  Gen.  iv.  14,  where  it 
obviously  signifies  the  spot  where  the  primitive 
worship  was  celebrated,  and  sensible  proofs  of  the 
divine  favor  were  manifested  to  the  worshippers 
(1  Sam.  i.  22;  ii.  IS;  Ps.  xlii.  3  (2)).  In  like 
manner,  the  place  where  Jacob  had  intimate  com- 
munion with  God,  was  called  by  that  patriarch 

,-S^2,  the  face,  or  manifestation  of  God  (Gen 
xxxii.  30).  The  interpretation,  therefore,  of  Davie 
Kimchi,  "  He  imagined  that  if  he  went  out  of  the 
land  of  Israel,  the  spirit  of  prophecy  would  not 


18 


JONAH. 


rest  upon  him,"  is  perhaps  not  wide  of  the  mark. 
Jarchi  to  the  same  effect :  "  The  Shekinah  does 
not  dwell  out  of  the  land."  Though,  as  Theodoret 
observes,  he  well  knew  that  the  Lord  of  the  uni- 
verse was  everywhere  present,  yet  he  supposed  that 
it  was  only  at  Jerusalem  he  became  apparent  to 
men ;  irKoKa.fxfia.vaiv  Se  '6/j.ojs  eV  liSvt]  'XepouaaX^fji 
airrbv  TrotetcOat  tyjv  inKpaveiav." —  C.  E.] 

The  psychological  motive  of  the  flight  is  not 
mentioned.  That  which  Jonah  assigns  (chap.  iv. 
2),  is  hardly  to  be  considered  with  Keil1  as  prag- 
matically exact  and  sufficient,  since  in  that  place 
it  rather  makes  the  impression  of  being  an  attempt 
to  palliate  a  guilty  conscience,  which  is  glad  to 
seize  upon  even  the  semblance  of  right.  His  con- 
cern for  the  time  being,  was  to  throw  off  obedience 
to  God,  and  for  that  purpose  various  motives  — 
ease,  indolence,  and  fear  of  men  —  concurred,  —  a 
state  of  mind  of  which  every  servant  of  God  can 
readily  conceive  from  the  analogy  of  his  own  expe- 
rience. That  he  actually  intended  an  entire  aban- 
donment of  duty,  the  circumstance  that  he  fled  as 
far  as  possible  proves. 

To  Tarshish,  or  Tartessus?  which  was  the  most 
remote  of  the  Phoenician  trading-places  known  in 
the  Old  Testament,  and  situated  not  far  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Bastis  (Guadalquivir).  He  takes  the 
direct  road  thither,  first  to  Joppa,  which,  in  the 
time  of  Solomon  (2  Chron.  ii.  16),  was  a  well- 
known  seaport  on  the  Mediterranean  (Josh.  xix. 
46),  for  the  purpose  of  there  embarking  in  a  ship, 

whose  appointed  fare  (^Hpti?)  he  paid. 

Ver.  4-16.  God  arrests  Jonah.  Jehovah,  from 
whom  Jonah  intends  to  flee,  is  Lord  of  the  sea, 
and  the  winds  are  his  servants  (Ps.  civ.  4).  One 
of  these  servants  he  sends  forth  in  haste  into  the 
sea  to  draw  Jonah  from  his  purpose. 

Ver.  5.  The  sailors,  heathen  from  different  na- 
tions, do  what  behooves  honest  and  prudent  men : 
they  pray  and  resort  to  the  usual  precautionary 
measures,  by  throwing  the  wares  into  the  sea,  in 

order  to  unburden  themselves  of  them.  (CrP73?E 
does  not  refer  to  the  wares,  but  to  the  ship's  com- 
pany (Ex.  xviii.  22).)  But  he,  whom  the  storm 
particularly  concerns,  deems  himself  secure  in  the 
sides  of  the  ship,  i.  e.,  in  the  hold  (comp.  Am.  vi. 
10;  Is.  xiv.  15).  There  he  is  fast  asleep.  "  Tarn 
quietus  est  et  animi  tranquilli,  ut  ad  navis  interiora 
descendens  somno  placido  perfruatur."  (Hierony- 
mus.)  The  verbs  in  the  last  sentence  of  the  verse 
should  be  rendered  in  the  pluperfect,  as  in  the  last 
clause  of  verse  10.  ["  Jonah  had  gone  down  into 
the  hold,  and  had  there  fallen  fast  asleep." —  C.  E.] 
[This  act  of  Jonah  is  regarded  by  most  com- 
mentators as  a  sign  of  an  evil  conscience.     Marck 

1  ["The  motive  of  his  flight  was  not  fear  of  the  difficulty 
of  carrying  out  the  command  of  God,  but,  as  Jonah  him- 
self Bays  in  chap.  iv.  2,  anxiety  lest  the  compassion  of  God 
ihould  spare  the  sinful  city  in  the  event  of  its  repenting. 
He  had  no  wish  to  cooperate  in  this  ;  and  that  not  merely 
because  '  he  knew  by  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
the  repentance  of  the  Gentiles  would  be  the  ruin  of  the 
Jews,  and  as  a  lover  of  his  country,  was  actuated  not  so 
much  by  envy  Ol  the  salvation  of  Nineveh,  as  by  unwilling- 
ness that  his  own  people  Should  perish,' as  Jerome  supposes, 
but  also  because  he  really  grudged  salvation  to  the  Gentiles 
and  feared  leel  their  conversion  to  the  living  God  should 
infringe  upon  the  privileges  of  Israel  above  the  Gentile 
world,  and  put  an  end  to  its  election  as  the  nation  of  God  " 
(Keil  and  Delitzsch,  Com.  on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  3,  and  note  at 
the  bottom  of  the  page.)  —  0.  Ii.] 

*  [Calvin  i«  of  the  opiniou   that  Tarshish  means  Cilicia, 


supposes  that  he  had  lain  down  to  sleep,  hoping 
the  better  to  escape  either  the  dangers  of  sea  and 
air,  or  the  hand  of  God  ;  others  that  he  had  thrown 
himself  down  in  despair,  and  being  utterly  ex- 
hausted and  giving  himself  up  for  lost,  had  fallen 
asleep ;  or  as  Theodoret  expresses  it,  being  troubled 
with  the  gnawings  of  conscience  and  overpowered 
with  mourning,  he  had  sought  comfort  in  sleep 
and  fallen  into  a  deep  sleep.  Jerome,  on  the  other 
hand,  expresses  the  idea  that  the  words  indicate 
"security  of  mind"  on  the  part  of  the  prophet 
"he  is  not  disturbed  by  the  storm  and  the  sur- 
rounding dangers,  but  has  the  same  composed 
mind  in  the  calm,  or  with  shipwreck  at  hand;" 
and  whilst  the  rest  are  calling  upon  their  gods,  and 
casting  their  things  overboard,  "  he  is  so  calm  and 
feels  so  safe  with  his  tranquil  mind,  that  he  goes 
down  to  the  interior  of  the  ship  and  enjoys  a  most 
placid  sleep."  The  truth  probably  lies  between 
these  two  views.  It  was  not  an  evil  conscience,  or 
despair  occasioned  by  the  threatening  of  clanger, 
which  induced  him  to  lie  down  to  sleep  ;  nor  was 
it  his  fearless  composure  in  the  midst  of  the  danger 
of  the  storm,  but  the  careless  self-security  with 
which  he  had  embarked  on  the  ship  to  flee  from 
God,  without  considering  that  the  hand  of  God 
could  reach  him  even  on  the  sea,  and  punish  him 
for  his  disobedience.  This  security  is  apparent  in 
his  subsequent  conduct."  (Keil  and  Delitzsch, 
Com.  on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  5). 

Pusey  and  Cowles  intimate  that  he  may  have 
been  fatigued  by  his  journey  to  Joppa,  and  that 
"  sorrow  and  remorse  completed  what  fatigue  be- 
gan."-C.E.] 

Ver.  6.     But  God  knows  where  to  find  each  one 

(comp.  Am.  ix.  2).  The  captain  [7211  collect.] 
came  to  him  and  said  :  What  meanest  thou,  O 
sleeper  ?  Hieronymus :  "  Quid  tu  sopore  deprim- 
eris  ?  Vox  stupentis  et  acriter  redarguentis,  ac  si 
dixisset :  quoznam  est  tibi  tanti  soporis  causa  et  ratio 
et  excusatio  ?  cum  procella  somnum  omtiem  satis  in- 
terdicat  et  vigil  iam  exigat  periculum?  " —  Marck. 

Arise,  pray  to  thy  God.  Perhaps  God  s  will 
think  upon  us,  think  mercifully  that  we  perish 

not  (compare  the  derivatives  of  the  root  HWV 
(Job  xii.  5;  Ps.  cxlvi.  4).  The  heathen  is  obliged 
to  admonish  the  servant  of  God  of  his  duty,  and 
to  remind  him  of  the  fact  that  his  God  is  a  merci- 
ful God. 

[Pusey  quotes  from  Chrysostom  the  following 
passage  :  "  The  ship-master  knew  from  experience, 
that  it  was  no  common  storm,  that  the  surges  were 
an  infliction  borne  down  from  God,  and  above  hu- 
man skill,  and  that  there  was  no  good  in  the  mas- 
ter's skill.     For  the  state  of  things  needed  another 

the  principal  city  of  which  was  Tarsus,  the  native  place  of 
the  Apostle  Paul.  But  it  is  uow  generally  agreed  that  it 
was  Tarshish  in  Spain.  The  name  occurs  in  Gen.  x.  4, 
among  the  sons  of  Javan,  who  are  supposed  to  have  peopled 
the  southern  parts  of  Europe  (comp.  I's.  lxxii.  10  ;  Is.  lxvi. 
19).  In  Ezckiel  xxvii.  12,  and  Jeremiah  x.  9,  it  is  men- 
tioned as  sending  to  Tyre  silver,  iron,  tin,  and  lead.  It  u 
mentioned  in  Isaiah,  chap,  xxiii.  in  connection  with  Tyre. 
In  several  passages  of  the  Bible,  ''ships  of  Tarshish  "  are 
spoken  of,  especially  in  connection  with  Tyre.  The  name 
is  probably  of  Phoenician  origin.  —  0.  E.] 

3  [The  Hebrew  is  EiwSn,  the  God.  The  German  rs> 
•/ :  t  ' 
tains  the  article,  Dn  Gott.  Pusey :  "  He  does  not  eaft 
Jonah's  God,  thy  God,  as  Darius  says  to  Daniel,  thy  God, 
but  also  the  God,  acknowledging  the  (lod  whom  Jtoab 
worshipped  to  be  the  GOil."  — 0.  E.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


19 


Master,  who  ordereth  the  heavens,  and  craved  the 
guidance  from  on  high.  So  then  they  too  left 
oars,  sails,  cables,  gave  their  hands  rest  from  row- 
ing, and  stretched  them  to  heaven  and  called  upon 
God."  —  C.E.] 

Ver.  7.  But  God  intends  to  make  a  complete 
exposure  of  Jonah.  [Luther  fills  up,  in  an  ingen- 
ious way,  the  break  in  rhe  continuity  of  thought 
between  vers.  6  and  7.  On  a  momentary  survey 
of  the  evil,  which  he  had  caused,  Jonah  was  filled 
with  such  a  pungent  feeling  of  repentance  and  con- 
fusion, that  he  is  speechless  from  deep  compunc- 
tion, and  does  not,  because  of  shame,  find  courage 
to  make  an  open  confession,  because  he  considers 
the  disgrace  intolerable.  Therefore  God  must  suf- 
fer still  something  more  to  come  to  pass,  in  order 
to  drive  him  to  confession.]  ]  The  lot  falls  upon 
him.  "  Fuyitivus  hie  sorte  deprehenditnr,  pod  viri- 
bus  sortium,  sed  voluntate  ejus,  qui  sorte n  regebat  in- 
certas"  (Hieronymus.)  [The  fugitive  is  detected 
by  lot,  not  from  any  virtue  in  lots  themselves,  but 
by  the  will  of  Him,  who  governs  uncertain  lots.] 

Ver.  8.  His  own  confession  must  convict  him, 
that  he  intended  to  flee  from  a  God,  of  whose  wide, 
unlimited  power  he  could  not  be  ignorant  (Matt, 
xii.  37). 

["When  Jonah  had  been  singled  out  by  lot  as 
the  culprit,  the  sailors  called  upou  him  to  confess 
his  guilt,  asking  him  at  the  same  time  about  his 
country,  his  occupation,  and  his  parentage.  The 
repetition  of  the  question,  on  whose  account  this 
calamity  had  befallen  them,  which  is  omitted  in 
the  LXX.  (Vatican),  the  Soucin.  prophets,  and 
Cod.  195  of  Kennicott,  is  found  in  the  margin  in 
Cod.  38-t,  and  is  regarded  by  Grimm  and  Hitzig 
as  a  marginal  gloss  that  has  crept  into  the  text. 
It  is  not  superfluous,  however,  still  less  does  it  oc- 
casion any  confusion ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  quite 
ia  order.  The  sailors  wanted  thereby  to  induce 
Jonah  to  confess  with  his  own  mouth  that  he  was 
guilty,  now  that  the  lot  had  fallen  upon  him,  and 
to  disclose  his  crime  (Ros.  and  others).  As  an 
indirect  appeal  to  confess  his  crime,  it  prepares  the 
way  for  the  further  inquiries  as  to  his  occupation, 
etc.  They  inquired  about  his  occupation,  because 
it  might  be  a  disreputable  one,  and  one  which  ex- 
cited the  wrath  of  the  gods  ;  also  about  his  parent- 
age, and  especially  about  the  land  and  people  from 
which  he  sprang,  that  they  might  pronounce  a  safe 
sentence  upon  his  crime"  (Keil  and  Delitzsch, 
Com.  on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  8). 

"  Questions  so  thronged  have  been  admired  in 
human  poetry,"  St.  Jerome  says.  For  it  is  true 
to  nature  Th  y  think  that  someone  of  them  will 
draw  forth  the  answer  which  they  wish.  It  may 
he  that  they  thought  that  his  country,  or  people, 
or  parents,  were  under  the  displeasure  of  God. 
But  perhaps  more  naturally,  they  wished  to  "  know 
all  about  him,"  as  men  say.  These  questions 
must  have  gone  home  to  Jonah's  conscience.  What 
is  thy  business  ?  The  office  of  prophet  which  he 
had  left.  Whence  comest  thou  ?  From  stand- 
ing before  God  as  his  minister.  What  thy  coun- 
try, of  what  people  art  thou  ?  The  people  of 
God,  whom  he  had  quitted  for  heathen ;  not  to 
win  them  to  God,  as  He  commanded ;  but  not 
knowing  what  they  did,  to  abet  him  in  his  flight 

Ver.  9.  "  Jonah  answers  the  central  point  to 
which  all  these  questions  tended :  '  I  am  a  He- 
brew.' This  was  the  name  by  which  Israel  was 
known  to  foreigners.     It  is  used  in  the  Old  Testa- 

1  [Though  it  does  not  appear  that  Jonah  confessed  his  sin 
to  the  captain  of  the  ship,  yet  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  he  obeyed  the  awakening  call  (ver.  6).  —  C  E.] 


ment,  only  when  they  are  spoken  of  by  foreigners, 
or  speak  of  themselves  to  foreigners,  or  when  the 
sacred  writers  mention  them  in  contrast  with  for 
eigners."     (Pusey,  Com.  on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  8,  9.) 

"  He  does  not  say  a  Jew,  as  the  Targum  wronglw 
renders  it ;  for  that  would  have  been  false,  since  he 
was  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  which  was  in  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  and  not  of  Judah  :  nor  does  he 
say  an  Israelite,  lest  he  should  be  thought  to  be  in 
the  idolatry  of  that  people,  but  a  Hebrew,  which 
was  common  to  both"  (Dr.  Gill,  Com.  on  Jonah, 
chap.  i.  9). 

And    I   fear  Jehovah,  the  God   of  heaven, 

which  made  the  sea  and  dry  land.    S]V  has  been 

rendered  correctly  by  the  LXX.  adftofiai,  colo,  re- 
vereor ;  and  does  not  mean  "  I  am  afraid  of  Je- 
hovah against  whom  I  have  sinned"  (Abarbanel). 
By  the  statement,  "I  fear,"  etc.,  he  had  no  inten- 
tion of  describing  himself  as  a  righteous  or  inno- 
cent man  (Hitzig),  but  simply  meant  to  indicate 
his  relation  to  God,  —  namely,  that  he  adored  the 
living  God  who  created  the  whole  earth,  and,  as 
Creator,  governed  the  world.  For  he  admits  di- 
rectly after,  that  he  has  sinned  against  this  God, 
by  telling  them,  as  we  may  see  from  ver.  10,  of  his 
flight  from  Jehovah.  He  had  not  told  them  as 
soon  as  he  embarked  in  the  ship,  as  Hitzig  sup- 
poses, but  does  so  now  for  the  first  time,  when  they 
ask  about  his  people,  his  country,  etc.,  as  we  may 
see  most  unmistakably  from  ver.  10,  b.  In  ver.  9, 
Jonah's  statement  is  not  given  completely  ;  but  the 
principal  fact,  namely,  that  he  was  a  Hebrew  and 
worshipped  Jehovah,  is  followed  immediately  by 
the  account  of  the  impression  which  this  acknowl- 
edgment made  upon  the  heathen  sailors  ;  and  the 
confession  of  his  sin  is  mentioned  afterwards  as  a 
supplement,  to  assign  the  reason  for  the  great  fear 
which  came  upon  the  sailors  in  consequence." 
(Keil  and  Delitzsch,  Com.  on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  9.)  — 
C.  E.] 

Ver.  10.  The  heathen  perceive  the  bearing  and 
extent  of  this  confession.  Danger  teaches  to  take 
heed  to  the  word  (Is.  xxviii.  19).  [See  the  Hebrew 
and  Luther's  German  translation  of  Is.  xxviii.  19. 
—  C.  E.]  Great  fear  of  the  great  God,  who  pursues 
them  closely  [is  at  their  heels]  seizes  upon  them. 
The  second  half  of  the  verse  is  an  explanatory 
clause  added  by  the  narrator,  from  which  it  is  evi 
dent  that  the  reply  of  Jonah  (ver.  9),  does  not  give 
the  exact  words  that  he  uttered,  but  only  their  sub- 
stance in  condensed  form.  Indeed,  if  the  question 
(10,  a),  is  admitted  to  be  intelligible,  he  must  have 
told  them  of  his  flight. 

[What  hast  thou  done !  H^WS  nrf-TTlD, 
is  not  a  question  as  to  the  nature  of  his  sin,  but  au 
exclamation  of  honor  at  his  flight  from  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  as  the  following  ex- 
planatory clauses,  121,  -137-p  ^3  clearly  show 
The  great  fear  which  came  upon  the  heathen  sea- 
men at  this  confession  of  Jonah,  may  be  fully  ex- 
plained from  the  dangerous  situation  in  which  they 
found  themselves,  since  the  storm  preached  the 
omnipotence  of  God  more  powerfully  than  worda 
could  possibly  do."  (Keil  and  Delitsch,  Com.  on 
Jonah,  chap.  i.  10.)  —  C.  E.] 

Ver.  11.  Still  more  evident  is  it  from  this  verse 
that  Jonah  must  have  told  them  that  he  was  a  ser- 
vant of  God  consecrated  by  a  special  call ;  for  they 
do  not  cast  him  into  the  sea  immediately,  but  ap- 
ply to  him  with  a  kind  of  awe  for  instructions  wha 
to  do.  Moreover,  afterward  (vers.  13,  14),  they 
exert  themselves  most  strenuously  to  bring  him  tc 


20 


JONAH. 


land,  to  preserve  his  life  for  the  execution  of  his 
divine  commission  ;  and  only  when  they  do  not 
succeed,  do  they  throw  him  into  the  sea.1 

The  participle  T|~?n,  ver.  11,  frequently  stands 
as  an  auxiliary  verh,  with  the  idea  of  continuance, 
increase :  the  sea  continued  to  rage  (2  Sam.  iii. 
1 ;  xv.  12). 

Ver.  12.  Jonah  pronounces  his  own  sentence. 
"  Non  tergiversatur,  von  dissimulat,  non  negat,  sed  qui 
conjessus  erat  de  fuga  poznam  libenter  assumit  se  cu- 
viens  perire  ne  propter  se  et  cderi  pereant."  ( Hierony- 
mus.)  [He  does  not  refuse,  or  prevaricate,  or 
deny ;  but  having  made  confession  concerning  his 
flight,  be  willingly  submits  to  the  punishment,  de- 
siring to  perish,  and  not  [to]  let  others  perish  on 
his  account.]  With  the  same  resignation,  with 
which  the  prophets  are  accustomed  to  announce 
the  sad  fate  of  their  nation,  he  utters  his  own  sen- 
tence as  a  divine  oracle,  and  joins  with  the  tone 
of  prophecy  the  promise  of  deliverance. 

Ver.  13.  The  holier  he  seems  to  the  men,  the 
greater  is  their  dread  of  putting  him  to  death. 
Will  not  God  have  mercy  upon  them,  if  they  re- 
store him  again  to  the  mission,  from  which  he 
was    intending    to  escape,   if  they   put   him   on 

shore  ?  They  row  hard  [  ^£10*3,  literally,  broke 
through,  namely,  the  surging  waves]  to  bring  the 
ship  to  dry  land  ;  Cyrill :  irpoo-Ke7\ai  rijv  vuvV-  the 
object  can  be  omitted  as  being  easily  understood, 
a  usage  common  to  the  German.'2  But  they  do 
not  succeed.  It  must  be  evident  to  them  that  the 
word  of  the  prophet  must  indeed  be  accomplished. 
He  is  a  servant  [Mann]  of  Jehovah,  whom  they 
are  about  to  sacrifice ;  therefore  it  is  natural  that 
they  should  pray,  not  to  their  own  gods,  but  to  Je- 
hovah to  pardon  them  because  of  the  victim. 

Ver.  14.  —  O  Jehovah,  we  beseech  thee,  let 
us  not  perish  for  the  sake  of  the  soul  of  this 

man.  ""T-?^  has  not  arisen  from  S3"?S  (Keil), 
whereby  a  useless  accumulation  of  synonymous 
words  would  arise,  but  it  is  the  usual  particle  of 

entreaty,  contracted  from  S2T1S,  which  is  just 
as  readily  joined  with  positive  requests  (2  Kings 
xx.  3).  The  2  pretii  [the  beth  of  price,  reward, 
exchange.  —  C.  E.]  stands  here  as  in  Micah  i.  5. 
The  added  petition,  impute  not  to  us  innocent 
blood,  does  not   mean,  suffer  us  not   to  destroy 

in  this  man  an  innocent  person  (Hitzig) ;  but  vS 

?n3  has  the  meaning  of  imputation  and  retribu- 
tion. Against  them  Jonah  had  done  no  wrong ; 
with  respect  to  them  he  is  guiltless ;  and  in  his 
mission  as  a  prophet,  he  stands  or  falls  to  his  God 
alone :  this  they  feel ;  no  worldly  power  has  a  right 
to  pass  sentence  upon  the  prophet  of  God  (Jer.  xxvi. 

19).  [N*P2  is  irregularly  written  with  W,  as  in 
Joel  iv.  19.]  But  God  showed  them  that  they 
must  serve  Him  as  his  executioners.  For  thou, 
O  Jehovah,  hast  done  as  it  pleased  thee.  Thou 
hast  determined  it.  This  is  their  justification. 
The  lot  and  the  word  of  the  prophe,  are  to  them 
the  finger  of  God. 

1  [Perhaps  it  is  too  much  to  assume  that  the  strenuous 
ffforts  of  the  sailors  were  put  forth  principally  to  effect  the 
landing  of  the  fugitive  prophet ;  they  had  regard  to  their 
own  safety,  as  the  casting  of  Jonah  into  the  sea  proves. — 
C  B.] 

2  [The  literal  translation  of  the  Hebrew  is,  "  They  rowed 
hard  to  bring  to  the  dry  land."  The  object  of  the  verb  ren- 
tered  to  bring,  n;im.-l    ,  ship,  18  omitted.  —  C.  E.l 


Ver.  1 5.  The  prediction  of  the  pi  >phet  if-  ful- 
filled. The  sea  stood  still  [ceased]  from  its  rag 
ing. 

Ver.  16.  The  result  of  the  fulfilled  prophecy 
is  that  the  fear  of  God  on  the  part  of  the  heathen 
manifests  itself  in  action  :  they  offer  a  sacrifice  and 
make  vows, — the  sacrifice  immediately,  the  vows 
for  the  time  of  landing. 

[According  to  the  Rabbins,  Grotius,  and  some 
others,  they  did  not  actually  offer  a  sacrifice,  but 
only  purposed  to  do  it  before  Jehovah,  i.  e.,  at  Je- 
rusalem ;  but  it  is  more  natural  to  conclude  that 
they  sacrificed  some  animal  that  was  on  board,  and 
vowed  that  they  would  present  greater  proofs  of 
their  gratitude  when  they  returned  from  their  voy- 
age. Michaelis  thinks  they  intended  to  perform 
their  vows  when  they  reached  Spain. 
«  Quin;  ubi  transmissce  steterbit  trans  ceqiiora  classes; 
Et  positis  aris  jam  vota  in  litore  solves."  — iEneid  iii.  403. 

Henderson's  Com.  on  Jonah,  chap.  i.  16.  —  C.  E.] 

DOCTRINAL   AND   ETHICAL.4 
See  Introduction  iii.  p.  16. 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

There  is  no  escape  from  the  Almighty  God.  For 
(1.)  He  has  so  arranged  the  world,  that  the  work 
of  every  individual  is  counted  upon  ;  and  his  work 
is  not  allowed  to  stand  stiil,  but  must  be  accom- 
plished. Ver.  1,  2.  (2.)  Distance  is  no  protection 
against  Him ;  for  to  Him  belong  heaven  and  earth, 
the  sea  and  the  dry  land.  Ver.  3,  f.  9.  (3.)  To 
Him  the  winds  and  waves  are  subject ;  for  He  has 
made  all  things. — Ver.  4,  9.  (4.)  To  Him  also 
are  subject  everywhere,  in  involuntary  fear,  tha 
erring  hearts  of  men  (ver.  5,  6) ;  whoever,  then, 
expects  to  find  in  them  a  refuge  against  God,  is 
deceived.  (5.)  Even  things  seemingly  accidental 
must  obey  Him,  whenever  He  intends  to  carry  out 
his  purpose. — Ver.  7.  (6.)  Everything,  however  far 
from,  or  near  to  Him  it  may  be,  must  finally  be- 
come an  instrument  in  his  hand  (ver.  11-15),  and 
cooperate  for  the  glorifying  of  his  name.    Ver.  16. 

Ver.  1.  Whoever  would  speak  the  word  of  God 
to  others,  must  have  received  it  himself.  For  the 
office  of  the  ministry  a  regular  call  is  reouisite. — ■ 
Ver.  2.  Let  no  man  say,  that  there  is,  or  can  be 
anywhere,  a  sphere  of  life  so  distant,  that  God  can 
entirely  lose  sight  of  it.  The  Lord  has  always 
an  eye  and  a  heart  for  those  also,  who  are  with- 
out. And  he  who  would  be  his  servant  and  has 
not  such  a  heart,  is  a  servant  like  Jonah,  that 
is,  an  undutiful  one.  The  sins  of  Nineveh  are  not 
specified.  The  savage  desire  for  wars  and  thirst  for 
conquest,  which  characterized  the  Assyrians,  were 
certainly  sins  enough  before  God;  yet  there  may 
have  been  others.  God's  call  to  repentance  is 
always  a  call  of  grace;  his  call  of  grace  always 
a  call  to  repentance.  Jonah  and  Paul,  Rom. 
i.  5.  —  Ver.  3.  What  God  appoints  to  thee  to 
do,  do  it  without  gainsaying.  He  who  gives  the 
burden  gives  also  the  shoulders  to  bear  it.  He 
who  flees  increases  the  burden.  He  who  flees  from 
God  is  foolish  and  commits  folly.     Jonah  must 

8  [See  Henderson's  Com.  m  Jonah,  i.  14,  and  Gesenius 
Hebrew  Lexicon,  s.  v.  —  C.  E.] 

4  [For  the  heading  of  this  part  of  the  Commentary 
Kleinert  has  chosen  the  compound  word  Reir/isgedanken. 
which  means  thoughts  connected  with  the  history  and  de- 
velopmer::  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  His  reasons  for  choos- 
ing ttiis  term  in  preference  to  dogmalisch-et/iiscke  Gnin'tz* 
dan/ten  are  aiveu  in  the  Preface,  pp.  vi..  vii.  —  C.  B  I 


CHAPTER   I. 


21 


have  known  in  his  heart  that  it  is  impossible  to 
escape  from  God  (ver.  9).  It  so  happens  that  if, 
regardless  of  Divine  direction,  we  take  our  own 
course,  we  will  afterward  be  obliged  to  acknowl- 
edge ourselves  blind  and  foolish. — Ver.  4.  Had  the 
Book  of  Jonah  originated  from  heathen  fables,  as 
some  assert,  the  Lord  would  not  have  sent  the  wind 
upon  the  sea;  but  the  god  of  heaven  [Jupiter] 
would  have  made  an  alliance  with  the  god  of  the 
winds  [iEolus]  and  with  the  god  of  the  sea  [Nep- 
tune] against  Jonah.  How  simple  and  sublime  is 
the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament !  Distress 
teaches  to  pray.  If  thou  dost  not  know  and  teach 
this,  thou  wilt  always  be  a  poor  comforter.  If  the 
Lord  seizes  thy  heart  with  violent  alarms  from 
anguish  of  conscience,  throw  thy  wares  into  the 
sea.  What  is  thine  must  perish,  and  if  thou  dost 
not  surrender  it,  thou  must  thyself  suffer  ship- 
wreck. —  Ver.  6.  It  is  a  sad  thing  and  a  bad  sign, 
if  the  unbelieving,  and  those  in  the  congregation 
weak  in  faith,  must  tell  the  minister  what  becomes 
him  to  do.  Happy  he  whose  conscience  is  awak- 
ened and  quickened  by  an  admonition  so  shameful 
to  him.  Of  whom  the  Lord  thinks,  him  He  also 
helps  (Ps.  xl.  17  (17)).  It  often  occurs  that  the 
Lord  must  say :  Verily,  I  have  not  found  such 
faith  in  Israel.  —  Ver.  7.  Human  means  to  learn 
the  will  of  God,  in  doubtful  cases,  are  iu  them- 
selves of  no  avail ;  but  God  can  make  use  of  them, 
if  there  is  true  earnestness  in  those  who  employ 
them,  and  if  they  know  no  better  means  (comp. 
Jish.  7).  But  when  men,  by  means  of  prayer,  can 
receive  the  Holy  Spirit,  then  they  should  seek  the 
will  of  God,  not  by  lots,  but  by  prayer  (Matt.  vii. 
11). — Ver.  8.  Jonah  might  purposely  have  left  his 
birth  and  vocation  in  darkness.  Whoever  engages 
in  his  calling  with  half  a  soul,  likes  to  avoid  con- 
fession ;  he  suffers  himself  to  be  considered  as  a 
heathen,  and  puts  himself  on  a  level  with  this 
world.  Where  the  fear  of  God  is  not,  there  is  the 
fear  of  man.  And  moreover,  the  fear  of  man  is 
most  unprofitable.  Whoever  frankly  and  honestly, 
humbly  and  heartily,  acknowledges  the  Lord  among 
men,  will  soon  discover  that  it  is  the  phantom  off- 
spring of  fear  to  imagine  that  one  will  reap  from 
the  acknowledgment  only  disgrace  and  not  a  bless- 
ing. Such  was  not  even  the  case  among  the 
heathen ;  for  when  Jonah  made  his  confession, 
they  honored  him  (ver.  10-14).  Reflect  how  many 
souls  may  be  guided  by  the  Lord  to  thee,  to  whom, 
by  confession  at  proper  time,  thou  mayest  have 
it  in  thy  power  to  render  a  service  for  eternity. 
The  commission  [of  the  minister]  is  not  confined 
to  Jerusalem  and  Bethel,  not  to  the  baptismal  font 
and  altar,  not  to  the  confessional  and  pulpit,  not 
o  canonicals ;  but  it  is  in  thy  heart  and  mouth, 
\nd  it  shall,  therefore,  never  depart  from  thee 
(Deut.  xxx.  14).  —  Ver.  13.  So  has  the  heathen 
world  also  struggled  to  come  to  land  ;  but  it  could 
not  until  Christ  was  buried  in  death  (Rom.  i.-iii  ). 
—  Ver.  15.  There  are  deeds  of  violence  by  which 
God's  will  is  carried  into  effect.  But  it  does  not, 
therefore,  follow  that  he  who  performs  them  is 
guiltless;  but  he  stands  in  need  of  repentance  and 
forgiveness.  —  Vers.  15,  16.  This  is  also  a  shadow 
of  things  to  come.  O,  that  it  were  only  come  to 
this, —  that  all  the  heathen  world  would  thank  God, 
that  death,  which  swallowed  up  Christ,  has  no 
more  power  over  us. 

Luther  :  Thus  God  is  wont,  when  his  great 
wrath  is  at  hand,  to  send  his  word  before  and  save 
some.  We  have  now  the  same  grace  and  great 
ight  of  the  Divine  word;  therefore  it  is  certain 
that  a  great  destruction  is  near;  since  God  intends 


to  rescue  some  before  it  comes.  —  Ver.  2.  We  re- 
gard the  history  with  indifference,  because  we  view 
it  from  without,  and  it  does  not  concern  us.  But 
should  the  like  occur  in  our  time,  we  woidd  think 
that  we  never  yet  heard  of  a  more  foolish  and 
more  impossible  thing,  than  that  a  single  man 
should  enter  such  an  empire,  with  a  proclamation 
to  repent.  Now  God's  works  are  wont  to  appear, 
at  first,  so  foolish  and  impossible,  that  reason  must 
despair  of  their  accomplishment  and  scoff;  but  it 
is  well  tor  us  to  believe,  for  God  accomplishes 
them.  —  Ver.  3.  The  ancient  holy  fathers  were 
especially  inclined  to  exculpate  the  prophets, 
apostles,  and  great  saints.  But  we  adhere  strictly 
and  inflexibly  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  admit  that 
Jonah,  in  this  instance,  committed  a  great  sin,  on 
account  of  which  he  would  have  been  eternally 
condemned,  had  he  not,  in  the  number  of  the  elect, 
been  written  in  the  book  of  life.  This  is  a  signal 
token  of  grace  that  God  seeks  Jonah  and  punishes 
him  so  soon  after  his  sin,  and  does  not  suffer  him 
to  profit  by  it,  or  to  continue  long  therein.  —  Ver. 
5.  The  natural  light  of  reason  extends  thus  far, 
that  it  considers  God  kind,  gracious,  merciful,  and 
mild.  This  is  a  great  light;  but  it  fails  in  two 
particulars.  In  the  first  place,  it  believes  indeed 
that  God  has  power  and  knowledge  to  do,  to  help, 
and  to  give;  but  that  He  is  willing  also  to  do 
such  things  for  it,  it  knows  not ;  therefore  it  does 
not  continue  steadfast  in  its  opinion.  In  the 
second  place,  reason  cannot  correctly  bestow  the 
predicate  of  Deity  upon  that  being  to  whom  it 
belongs.  It  knows  that  God  is  ;  but  who  and 
what  He  is,  who  has  a  right  to  be  called  God,  it 
knows  not.  Each  one  called  upon  his  god,  that  is, 
upon  the  object  of  his  fancy,  or  that  which  he  con- 
sidered God ;  therefore,  they  were  all  in  error  in 
regard  to  the  only  true  God.  —  Ver.  7.  Where  men 
devoid  of  understanding  are,  they  set  about  things 
in  a  wrong,  perverted  way,  allow  the  sin  to  remain 
in  the  mean  time,  and  consider  only  how  they  may 
get  rid  of  their  anguish-  This  does  not  help:  they 
must  consequently  despair.  But  where  men  of 
understanding  are,  they  turn  away  their  minds 
from  their  anguish  and  think  mostly  of  their  sins  ; 
they  confess  them  and  get  rid  of  them,  though  they 
should  remain  eternally  in  anguish,  and  they  re- 
sign themselves  to  it,  as  Jonah  does  here.  —  Ver. 
10  ff.  The  faith  of  Jonah  against  trials  (for  that 
he  maintained  his  faith  his  deliverance  proves) : 
(1.)  He  takes  the  sin  upon  himself  from  others, 
and  acknowledges  that  he  alone  deserved  death. 
(2.)  He  consents  also  to  be  brought  to  shame  be- 
fore God.  (3.)  He  chooses  death,  bitter  and  un- 
certain. If  God  so  deal  with  us  as  to  permit  us  to 
see  life  in  death,  or  if  He  show  us  the  place  and 
abode  of  our  souls,  whither  they  must  go  and 
where  they  must  remain,  then  death  would  not  be 
bitter,  but  it  would  be  like  a  leap  over  a  shallow 
stream,  on  both  sides  of  which  one  feels  and  sees  a 
firm  ground  and  shore.  But  now  He  does  not  show 
us  here  anything  of  the  kind,  but  we  must  spring 
from  the  iirm  shore  of  this  life  into  the  abyss.  (4.) 
He  bears  in  death  the  wrath  of  God.  (5.)  More 
than  this,  he  must  die  ilone;  he  has  none  to  com- 
fort him ;  the  people  in  the  ship  sail  away  and 
leave  him  in  the  midst  of  the  sea  as  certainly 
drowned  and  lost.  (6.)  To  die  simply  is  not 
enough :  he  must  yet  enter  the  jaws  of  the  fish. 

Starke:  Ver.  1.  Jonah  came  out  of  Galilee 
that  was,  therefore,  a  false  declaration  of  the  Phar- 
isees (John  vii.  52).    From  this,  one  sees  how  per- 
nicious are  all  deep-rooted  prejudices.     Whoevci 
will  rightly  exorcise  the  office  of  the  ministry  must 


22 


JONAR 


indeed  be  a  Jonah,  which,  translated  into  English, 
signifies  a  dove.  He  mast  cherish  the  simplicity 
of  the  dove  (Matt.  x.  16).  —  Ver.  2.  He  must  also 
not  love  ease,  but  cheerfully  and  willingly  take 
upon  himself  toil  and  hardship.  The  greater 
cities  are,  the  greater  are  their  sins.  God  bears 
tor  a  long  time,  and  rinds  with  him  no  uncon- 
ditional decree  for  the  destruction  of  the  great 
majority  and  the  election  of  a  small  minority.  — 
Ver.  3.  To  rest  on  the  divine  will  places  man  in 
the  highest  tranquillity.  Him  who  forsakes  God 
and  duty,  God,  on  the  other  hand,  forsakes  with 
his  grace  and  assistance.  —  Ver.  4.  If  we  follow 
our  carnal  nature  [Fleisch  und  Bint],  it  will  bring 
us  into  much  company  improper  for  us.  It  is  no 
small  act  of  kindness,  if  He  punish  the  sinner 
severely  soon  after  the  commission  of  his  sin.  On 
account  of  the  sin  of  one  man  many  others  often 
fall  into  great  distress.  —  Ver.  5.  It  is  very  proper, 
in  danger,  to  make  use  of  natural  means  for  pres- 
ervation. —  Ver.  6.  Even  the  heathen  acknowl- 
edged the  power  of  prayer :  it  is  a  shame,  if  many 
among  Christians  should  doubt  it.  —  Ver.  7.  So 
also  they  acknowledged  that  there  is  a  God,  who 
rules  over  the  human  race,  exercises  the  office  of 
Judge  among  men,  and,  in  consequence  of  this, 
brings  the  guilty  to  just  punishment.  —  God  has 
many  ways  of  bringing  our  sins  to  light  before 
his  face  (Ps.  xc.  8).  —  Ver.  8.  None  should  be  con- 
demned without  trial.  Even  the  law  of  nature 
grants  to  each  one  the  right  of  defense.  Just  as  it 
is  a  duty  and  necessity  readily  and  willingly  to 
hear  those  who  bring  us  to  account  for  our  life  and 
eon  duct,  so  also  ought  each  Christian,  as  often  as 
he  is  accused  by  his  conscience  and  brought,  as  it 
were,  before  court,  to  consider  the  charges  of  con- 
science, confess  his  wrong,  and  reform.  —  Ver.  9. 
There  is  nothing  so  secret  [so  fein  gesponnen,  so 
finely  spun],  that  it  shall  not  finally  come  to  light 
(Luke  viii.  17).  Confession  of  our  sins  should 
also  be  made,  that  God  may  be  honored  and  glo- 
rified, and  that  the  ignorant  and  unbelieving 
may  be  better  instructed.  —  Ver.  10.  The  fact 
that  the  heathen  had  heard  from  Jonah,  how  (iod 
held  the  Ninevites  in  abhorrence,  and  would  destroy 
the  whole  city,  with  its  inhabitants,  if  they  did  not 
repent,  may  have  contributed  (for  each  one  could 
easily  make  the  application  to  himself)  not  a  little 
to  their  fear,  which  was  merely  slavish.  God  never 
■  iocs  e-il  to  the  sinner,  but  always  good.  He  also 
intends  all  his  dealings  with  him  for  good.  That 
which  delights  the  sinner  is  not  a  true  good,  but 
an  imaginary  shadow:  it  is  not  genuine  pleasure, 
but  pure  disgust  [Urdust],  Why  then  does  he  sin  ? 
(iod  knows  how  to  propagate  the  true  religiou 
miraculously.  —  Ver.  11.  In  important  matters 
one  should  undertake  nothing  without  the  advice 
of  honest  teachers.  —  Ver.  12'  It  is  the  nature  of 
love  not  to  seek  its  own,  but  rather  to  suffer  harm 
than  to  bring  others  into  it;  rather  to  lose  its  life 
than  to  suffer  the  lives  of  the  innocent  to  be  en- 
dangered (John  iii.  16). — No  one  should  take 
away  his  own  life,  though  he  may  have  forfeited  it. 
—  Ver.  13.  Against  the  divine  will  no  human  toil 
nor  labor  can  prevail. — Ver.  14.  Though  in  divine 
chastisements  it  is  oue's  duty  to  subordinate  one's 
will  to  the  divine,  yet  one  ought  not,  on  that  ac- 
rount,  to  cease  to  call  upon  God  for  the  removal 
aid  mitigation  of  the  chastisement.  —  Ver.  15. 
He  who  has  God  for  his  enemy  has  all  nature  for 
bis  enemy ;  but  to  him  who  has  (.iod  for  his  friend, 
ill  creatures  hear  goodwill.  When  God  has  ex- 
ecuted his  just  sentence,  then  everything  is  again 
•t  peace. —  Ver.  16.   God  permits  nothing  so  evil 


to  come  to  pass,  but  that  He  knows  to  bring  some 
good  out  of  it;  for  his  counsels  are  wonderful  and 
He  carries  them  out  gloriously.  Men  should  ap- 
ply divine  judgments  upon  others  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  themselves  to  a  saving  knowledge  of 
God. 

Pfaff  :  Ver.  2.  Great  cities,  great  sins,  great 
judgments;  but  so  much  the  greater  necessity  that 
they  be  warned  by  the  prophets  of  the  Lord  and 
rebuked  by  them.  — Ver.  3.  Teacher  and  preacher 
must  not  shun  the  cross,  otherwise  they  forsake 
the  Lord.  Thou  also,  my  soul,  must  follow  the 
call  of  God,  though  He  lead  thee  in  the  paths  of 
extreme  suffering  [Kreuzesweye]  ;  and.  thou  must 
not  seek  to  escape  from  this  call.  —  Ver.  5.  Tribula- 
tion drives  to  God,  and  that  is  the  greatest  blessing, 
which  lies  hidden  in  the  cross.  —  Ver.  10  ff.  A 
single  person  can  often  bring  a  great  calamity  and 
the  punishment  of  God  upon  a  community.  There- 
fore, it  is  necessary  that  the  authorities  watch  and 
punish  and  remove  offenses.  We  have  good  rea- 
son to  entreat  God  that  He  will  not  punish  the 
whole  land  on  account  of  the  ungodly. 

Quandt  :  The  book  of  Jonah  is  the  missionary 
hook  of  the  Old  Testament. — Ver.  3.  There  is  in  the 
conduct  of  Jonah  a  twofold  sin,  —  disobedience  to 
God  and  flight  from  God.  Even  Christians  defy  their 
God  from  dread  of  disgrace.  Errors  of  the  heart 
draw  after  them  errors  of  the  understanding :  from 
religious  perversity  spring  erroneous  opinions. 
Elight  from  God  is  also  in  our  time  a  widespread 
folly.  —  Ver.  5.  Even  the  sleep  of  Jonah  belongs 
to  his  flight.  Judas  fled  still  farther,  when  he 
hanged  himself.  —  Ver.  6.  The  children  of  the 
world  have  always  a  feeling  that  the  God  of  the 
pious  [Christians]  is  more  powerful  than  what 
they,  in  their  delusion,  reverence  and  worship.  — 
Ver.  8.  It  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that  Jonah  first 
mentions  the  sea.  The  words  of  Jonah  are  not  so 
much  a  confession  of  faith  as  a  confession  of  re- 
pentance.—  Ver.  10  ff.  When  the  orator,  Cyprian, 
read  the  history  of  the  prophet  overwhelmed  by 
the  waves,  his  soul  was  violently  agitated :  it  be- 
came a  means  of  his  conversion;  and  the  result 
was  that  he  became  an  eminent  teacher  of  the 
church. 

F.  Lambert  :  Ver.  1.  It  gives  to  us  miserable 
sinners  great  confidence  in  God  that  He  received, 
among  his  servants,  David,  Jonah,  Peter,  Paul, 
and  others,  notwithstanding  they  sinned  noto- 
riously 

Rieg  ek  :  Ver.  2.  Of  such  as,  in  their  declension, 
have  wandered  still  farther  from  God,  it  is  said 
"  their  sins  have  como  up  before  inc  :  I  have  hear. 
the  cry  of  them,"  etc.  But  of  them  who  hav< 
intimate  communion  with  God.  or  in  the  midst  of 
whom  the  Lord  Jesus  s-iill  walks,  ii  is  said,  "I 
know  thy  works." — Ver.  3.  He  who  has  become 
sensible  of  his  deficiencies,  will  consider  the  fool- 
ishness  of  God  wiser  than  all  human  wisdom, 
from  the  fact  that,  in  his  word,  instead  of  many 
notable  works,  which  lie  might  have  mentioned  as 
having  been  achieved  by  many  of  bis  servants,  He 
rather  exposes  their  weaknesses  and  failings ;  be- 
cause not  merely  brilliant  and  great  examples  are 
necessary  for  our  imitation  ;  but  also  examples  for 
our  encouragement,  that  we  may  rouse  ourselves 
from  the  thoughtlessness  of  sin.  >eck  forgiveness, 
and  seize  the  hand  of  God  extended  for  our  re- 
eovery.  From  the  circumstance  that  Jonah  im 
mediately  found  a  ship,  according  to  his  wish,  he 
obstinately  persists  in  his  purpose.  But  even  to  a 
flight  undertaken  in  disobedience,  everything  in 
external  circumstances  may  accommodate   itself. 


CHAPTER  I. 


23 


If  a  man  is  in  the  right  way,  it  must  he  deter- 
mined by  other  indications  [than  favoring  external 
circumstances.  —  C.  E.] 

Hiebonymus  :  Ver.  4.  Great  is  he  who  flees  in 
this  insUnce ;  but  still  greater  is  He  who  pursues 
him. 

Schmieder :  Ver.  5.  Jonah  is  in  a  quiet,  con- 
cealed corner  of  the  ship.     He  shunned  the  light. 

Augustine  :  Ver.  9.  Si  homovelat,  Deusrevelat. 
Si  homo  tegit,  Deus  detegit  Si  homo  agnoscit,  Deus 
ignoscit. 

Rieger  :  Ver.  10  ff.  The  entire  connection  of 
events  revealed  God's  just  displeasure  at  the  flight 
of  Jonah ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  must  have  pre- 
pared him  for  the  future  courageous  execution  of 
his  mission.  For  the  fact  that  Jonah  found  such 
abundant  evidence  that  a  deep  impression  of  the 
fear  of  God  had  been  produced  in  the  consciences 
of  these  strange  people,  and  that  great  earnestness 
in  calling  upon  God  had  been  awakened  in  them, 
must  have  been  adapted  to  prepare  him  to  under- 
take, with  less  reluctance,  the  commission  to 
preach  against  a  strange  city.  The  godly  sorrow 
and  repentance,  which  Jonah  experienced,  pro- 
duced in  him  also  the  legitimate  revenge  (2  Cor. 
vii.  11),  for  he  said :  take  me  and  cast  me  into  the 
sea.  Yet  he  does  not  throw  himself  into  the  sea. 
Such  a  difference  is  found  between  an  awakened 
and  a  despairing  conscience. 

Schliek  :  Ver.  1 5.  He  chose  the  sea  for  himself 
instead  of  going  to  Nineveh :  the  sea  detained  him 
by  the  hand  of  the  Lord :  the  sea  was  the  _  place 
into  which  the  hand  of  the  Lord  plunged  him  for 
punishment. 

Schmieder:  Ver.  16.  This  was  not  a  genuine 
conversion  to  God ;  had  it  been,  they  would  have 
abandoned  forever  the  worship  of  all  other  gods 
beside  Jehovah,  and  not  merely  honored  Him, 
together  with  their  gods,  with  offerings. 

[Calvin  :  Ver.  2.  Arise,  go  to  Nineveh,  that  great 
city,  and  cry  against  it.  God  designed  in  this  way 
to  try  Jonah,  whether  he  would  prefer  his  com- 
mand to  all  the  hindrances  of  the  world.  And  it 
is  a  genuine  proof  of  obedience,  when  we  simply 
obey  God,  however  numerous  the  obstacles  which 
may  meet  us  and  may  be  suggested  to  our  minds, 
and  though  no  escape  may  appear  to  us ;  yea, 
when  we  follow  God,  as  it  were,  with  closed  eyes, 
wherever  He  may  lead  us,  and  doubt  not  but  that 
He  will  add  strength  to  us,  and  stretch  forth  also 
His  hand,  whenever  need  may  require,  to  remove 
all  our  difficulties.  —  Ver.  3.  All  flee  away  from 
the  presence  of  God,  who  do  not  willingly  obey 
his  commandments.  —  Ver.  4.  Though  the  Lord 
may  involve  many  men  in  the  same  punishment, 
when  He  especially  intends  to  pursue  only  one 
man,  yet  there  is  never  wanting  a  reason  why  He 
night  not  call  before  his  tribunal  any  one  of  as, 


even  such  as  appear  the  most  innocent.  —  Ver.  5 
Hardly  any  religion  appears  in  the  world,  when 
God  leaves  us  in  an  undisturbed  condition. 

This  passage  teaches,  that  men  are  constrained 
by  necessity  to  seek  God;  so  also,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  shows  that  men  go  astray  in  seeking  God, 
except  they  are  directed  by  celestial  truth,  and  also 
by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Marckius  ;!  Ver.  3.  God  not  only  suffers  the 
wicked  to  advance  prosperously  in  their  sins,  bat 
does  not  immediately  restore  the  godly  in  their 
declensions  ;  nay,  He  gives  them  every  facility  for 
a  time  in  their  downward  course,  in  order  that  they 
may  know  themselves  more,  and  that  the  glory  of 
God  may  become  thereby  more  manifest.  Foolish 
then  is  the  sinner,  who,  having  begun  life  prosper- 
ously, concludes  that  the  end  will  be  equally 
happy.  —  Ver.  6.  We  see  in  this  instance  the  great 
danger  in  which  unconscious  sinners  are  often  in- 
volved, that  the  solace  sought  by  them  departs 
from  them,  that  a  dead  sleep  remains,  and  even 
increases  under  God's  judgment,  and  that  in  the 
performance  of  duty  the  gorily  are  sometimes  more 
slothful  than  the  ungodly. 

The  servants  of  God  are  sometimes  surpassed, 
reproved,  and  stinmlated,  by  those  far  below  them, 
yea,  even  by  brute  animals  :  a  salutary  admo- 
nition, from  whatever  quarter  it  may  come,  ought 
never  to  be  despised. 

Matthew  Henry  :  Ver.  3.  Providence  seemed 
to  favor  his  design,  and  gave  him  an  opportunity 
to  escape  :  we  may  be  out  of  the  way  of  duty,  and 
yet  may  meet  with  a  favorable  gale.  The  ready 
way  is  not  always  the  right  way.  —  Ver.  6.  If  the 
professors  of  religion  do  an  ill  thing,  they  may  ex- 
pect to  hear  of  it  from  those  who  make  no  such 
profession. 

Pusey  :  Ver.  5.  God,  whom  they  ignorantly  v)or- 
shipped,  while  they  cried  to  the  gods,  who,  they 
thought,  disposed  of  them,  heard  them.  They 
escaped  with  the  loss  of  their  wares,  but  God 
saved  their  lives  and  revealed  Himself  to  them. 
God  hears  ignorant  prayer,  when  ignorauce  is  not 
willful  and  sin. 

A  heathen  ship  was  a  strange  place  for  a  prophet 
of  God,  not  as  a  prophet,  but  as  a  fugitive ;  and 
so,  probably,  ashamed  of  what  he  had  completed, 
he  had  withdrawn  from  sight  and  notice.  Hedid 
not  embolden  himself  in  his  sin,  but  shrank  into 
himself.  The  conscience  most  commonly  awakes 
when  the  sin  is  done.  It  stands  aghast  at  itself; 
but  Satan,  if  he  can,  cuts  off  its  retreat.  Jonah 
had  no  retreat  now,  unless  God  had  made  one.  — 
C.  E.] 

1  [These  extracts  from  Marckius  are  takea  ftcm  the  do*m 
appended  to  Calvin  ■  Commentary  on  Jonah.  —  1.  M.] 


24  JONAH. 


CHAPTER  H. 

\Jo  ink's  Hymn  of  Thanksgiving  and  Praise  for  his  Deliverance  from  the  Bowels  of 

the  Fish.  —  C.  E.] 

1  Now  [And]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  prepared 1  [appointed]  a  great  fish  to  swallow 
up  Jonah.     And  Jonah  was  in  the  belly  of  the  fish  three  days  and  three  nights. 

2  And   Jonah    prayed    to  Jehovah  his  God   from  the  bowels  of  the  fish  and  said) 

3  I  cried  to  Jehovah  out  of  my  distress : 
And  He  answered  me : 

Out  of  the  womb  of  Sheol 2  I  cried : 
Thou  heardest  my  voice. 

4  Thou  castedst  me  into  the  deep,3 
Into  the    heart  of  the  seas ; 

And  the  stream 4  surrounded  me ; 

All  thy  breakers  and  thy  billows  passed  over  me. 

5  And  I  said :  I  am  cast  out  from  before   thine  eyes ; 
Yet   I  will  look  again  towards  thy  holy  temple. 

6  Waters  encompassed  me  even  to  the  soul : 8 
The  abyss  surrounded    me ; 

Sea- weed6  was  bound  to  my  head. 

7  I  went  down  to  the  foundations 7  of  the  mountains ; 
The  earth  —  her  bars  were  behind  me  forever : 

And  thou  didst  raise  my  life  from  the  pit,  Jehovah,  my   God. 

8  When  my  soul   fainted 8  within  me, 
I  remembered  Jehovah: 

And  my  prayer  came  to  Thee, 
Into  thy  holy  temple. 
Those  observing  lying  vanities 
Forsake  their  own    mercy.9 

10  But  as  for  me,  I  will  sacrifice  to  thee 
With  the  voice  of  thanksgiving. 
What  I  have  vowed  I  will  perform. 
Salvation  *  belongs  to  Jehovah. 

11  And  Jehovah  spake  to  the  fish,  and  it  vomited  Jonah  upon  the  dry  land. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1. —  n3I3,  Piel   of    H^tt,    does  not  mean  to  create,  but  to  allot,  to  appoint. 

[«  Ver.  3 —  viSttJ  "jtDSQ,  out  of  the  womb  of  the  under  world      The  usual  derivation  of  VlStt?  is  from  7SD9, 

lo  ask,  to  demand;  but  Gesenius  says  the  true  etymology  is  vi37tt7,  cacily,  from  v2M£7.  Compare  the  German 
Hblie,  hell,  originally  the  same  with  Hohle,  a  hollow,  cavern. 

[8  Ver.  4.  —  n^^l'P,  the  deep  is  defined  by  "  the  heart  of  the  seas  "  —  the  deepest  part  of  the  ocean. 

[4  Ver.  4.  —  "in  3,  stream,  current,  flood  —  the  current  or  tide  of  the  sea.     Compare  Pfl.  xxiv.  3. 

[S  Ver.  6  —  ti?23"117,  even  lo,  or  to  the  very  soul,  i.  e.,  to  the  extinction  of  the  animal  life. 

[6  Ver.  6.  —  ^O,  a'ff°i  or  weed,  which  abounds  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  from  which  the  Arabian  Gulf  takM 

the  name  of    P)^D"lZj  the  sea  of  weeds. 

[7  Ver.  7  —  COVf?,  sections,  cuttings,  clefts.  Vulgate,  extrema  monttum.  Septuagint,  eU  <rx«r/xa?  bpetov.  The 
foundations  and  roots  of  the  mountains,  which  lie  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  reaching  even  to  the  foundation  of  the 
■ea.     'Compare  Ps.  xviii.  16). 

|8  Ver.  8.  —  P)tDVrin,  to  be  in  a  state  of  faintness,  swoon,  from  f]t237,  to  cover,  to  involve  in  darkness.  LXX.  'Ek 
rtf  iicXeiirtiv  -r'r\v  ^ivxr\v  jaou   dir'  ifiov. 

[9  Ver.  9.  —  D^pn,  their  mercy  or  goodness,  by  metonymy  for  God,  the  author  and  source  of  mercy  anl  goodnese 
Compare  Ps.  cxliv.'2.) 

[10  Ver.  10.  —  Henderson  says  the  paragojric  H  in  nni^^ltt?^  is  intensive;  but  it  is  merely  a  poetical  form.  Com- 
pare  Ps  iii  F  ;  Ixxx.  Z.  It  is  appended  to  nouns  for  the  purpose  of  softening  the  termination,  without  affecting  the 
•enae.  —  C    L] 


CHAPTER  II. 


2& 


Verses  1,2.  The  Crisis,  fin  the  English  "Ver- 
sion ver.  1  forms  the  conclusion  of  the  preceding 
chapter.  In  the  original  Hebrew  it  is  the  open- 
ing verse  of  chap.  ii.  —  C.  E.] 

The  narrative  says  nothing  of  the  kind  of 
fish  that  swallowed  Jonah ;  it  attaches  no  impor- 
tance to  the  question.  Inutilis  inquisitio.  (Marck.) 
The  Septuagint  and  the  New  Testament  (Matth- 
^ji.  40),  translate  it  by  the  indefinite  word  Ktjtos-, 
a  sea  monster;  compare  Bocharti  Hierozoicon,  i.  1, 
7 ;  ii.  5, 12.  [Suidas  following  iElian  :  Ktjtos  8a\- 
aaffiov  dnpiov  Tro\veiS(s  '  iari  Se  AeW,  £vyait>a, 
Trap8a\is,  <pv<ra\os,  irprj(TTts,  T)  \eyo/j.(vn  /uaAAij  3) 
nd\6r).]      Still  more  general  [than   /ctjtos]    is  the 

feminine  form  HIR,  which  occurs  in  ver.  2,  in- 
stead of  y^,  and  which  is  used  everywhere  else 
(also  in  Dent.  iv.  18)  as  a  collective  noun. 

(The  opinion  of  Izchakis  that  Jonah  was  first 
swallowed  by  a  male  fish,  and  that  because  he  did 
not  pray  in  it,  he  was  vomited  up  and  swallowed 
by  a  female  one,  in  which  his  situation  was  more 
confined,  and  that  from  this  circumstance  he  was 
driven  to  prayer,  deserves  mention  at  best  as  a 
curious  and  warning  example  of  the  absurdity  to 
which  adherence  to  "the  letter  may  lead  in  exege- 
sis). 

One  may  suppose  the  fish  to  have  been  the 
shark  or  sea-dog,  Canis  carcharias,  or  Squalus  car- 
charias,  L.,  which  is  very  common  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  has  so  large  a  throat,  that  it  can 
swallow  a  living  man  whole.  (Keil).  It  could 
hardly  be  the  whale,  as  Luther  thinks,  for  these  two 
conditions  [being  common  in  the  Mediterranean, 
and  having  a  large  throat  —  C.  E.]  do  not  meet  in 
it.  The  cachalot  also,  mentioned  by  Quandt,  is 
not  found  in  the  Mediterranean. 

[Dr.  Pusey,  in  his  introduction  to  Jonah,  quotes 
largelv  from  modern  works  on  zoology  and  nat- 
ural history,  to  prove  that  the  Canis  carcharias  can 
easily  swallow  a  man  whole.  He  states  on  the 
authority  of  Blumenbach,  that  it  has  been  "  found 
of  the  size  of  10,000  pounds  and  that  "horses  have 
been  found  whole  in  its  stomach.  "  "In  all  mod- 
ern works  on  zoology,"  says  Dr.  Pusey,  quot- 
ing from  Lacepede,  Hist,  des  Poissons,  "we  find 
thirty  feet  given  as  a  common  length  for  a  shark's 
body.  Now  a  shark's  body  is  visually  only  about 
eleven  times  the  length  of  the  half  of  its  lower 
jaw.  Consequently,  a  shark  of  thirty  feet  would 
have  a  lower  jaw  of  nearly  six  feet  in  its  semicir- 
cular extent.  Even  if  such  a  jaw  as  this  was  of 
hard  bony  consistence,  instead  of  a  yielding  carti 
laginous  nature,  it  would  qualify  its  possessor  for 
engulfing  one  of  our  species  most  easily.  This 
power,  which  it  has  by  virtue  of  its  cartilaginous 
skeleton,  of  stretching,  bending,  and  yielding,  en- 
ables us  to  understand  how  the  shark  can  swallow 
entire  animals  as  large  or  larger  than  ourselves."  — 
C.  E.] 

"  There  is  nothing  in  the  original  word,  •"T^O, 
which  at  all  suggests  the  idea  of  creation  or  produc- 
tion  All  that  can  be  legitimately  in- 
ferred from  its  use  in  this  place,  is,  that  in  the 
providence  of  God,  the  animal  was  brought  to  the 
spot  at  the  precise  time  when  Jonah  was  thrown 
into  the  sea,  and  its  instrumentality  was  wanted 
for  his  deliverance."  ( Henderson,  On  Jonah. )  "The 
fact  here  stated  is  the  great  stone  of  stumbling  and 
rock  of  offense  tc  that  class  of  critics  who  deny 
ihe  existence  of  miracles.  We  need  have  no 
pecial  sympathy  with  their  perplexities  or  their 


stumbling ;  for  there  can  be  no  good  reason  for 
rejecting  miracles.  Besides  in  this  case,  our  di- 
vine Lord  distinctly  recognizes  the  presence  of  mir- 
acles by  saying  that  Jonah  was  "  a  sign,"  i.  e.,  a 
man  in  whom  miracles  were  manifested  "  It  is  not 
necessarily  a  miracle  that  a  great  fish  should  swal- 
low a  man.  There  are  several  varieties  that  are 
capable  of  swallowing  a  man  whole,  for  they  have 
done  it.  But  that  a  man  should  live  three  days 
and  three  nights,  or  indeed  one  hour,  in  the  belly 
of  a  fish,  must  be  a  miracle."  (Cowles,  On  Jonah.) 
C.  E.] 

Jonah  lives  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the 
inside,  literally  in  the  bowels  of  the  fish.  Three 
days  and  three  nights  is  a  current  Hebrew  expres- 
sion, which  docs  not  describe,  with  chronological 
exactness,  the  space  of  seventy-two  hours,  but  cor- 
responds to  our  mode  of  designating  time  by  such 
phrases  as  "  the  day  after  to-morrow,"  "  the  day  before 
yesterday."  (1  Sam.  xxx.  1  ;  comp.  ver.  12, 
'Esth.  iv.  16;  comp.  v.  1;  Matth.  xii.  40.) 

[The  three  days  and  three  nights  are  not  to  ba 
regarded  as  three  times  twenty  [four]  hours,  but 
are  to  lie  interpreted  according  to  Hebrew  usage, 
as  signifying  that  Jonah  was  vomited  up  again 
on  the  third  day  after  he  had  been  swallowed. 
(Comp.  Esth.  iv.  16  with  v.  1,  and  Tob.  iii.  12,  13 
according  to  the  Lutheran  text.)  (Keil  and  De- 
litzsch,  On  Jonah.  —  C   E.] 

[Ver.  2.  The  prayer  which  follows  (vers.  2-9) 
is  not  a  petition  for  deliverance,  but  thanksgiv- 
ing and  praise  for  deliverance  already  received. 
It  by  no  means  follows  from  this  however,  that 
Jonah  did  not  utter  this  prayer  till  after  he  had 
been  vomited  upon  the  land,  and  that  ver.  10 
ought  to  be  inserted  before  ver.  2  ;  but  as  the  earlier 
commentators  have  shown,  the  fact  is  rather  this: 
that  when  Jonah  had  been  swallowed  by  the  fish, 
and  found  that  he  was  preserved  alive  in  the  fish's 
belly,  he  regarded  this  as  a  pledge  of  his  deliver- 
ance, for  which  he  praised  the  Lord. 

Luther  also  observes  that  he  did  not  actually 
utter  these  very  words  with  his  mouth,  and  ar- 
range them  in  this  orderly  manner,  in  the  belly  of 
the  fish  ;  but  that  he  here  shows  what  the  state  of 
his  mind  was,  and  what  thoughts  he  had  when  he 
was  engaged  in  this  conflict  with  death.  The  ex- 
pression "  his  God  "  L'1'?  "-J  must  not  De  over" 
looked.  He  prayed  not  only  to  Jehovah,  as  the 
heathen  sailors  also  did  (eh.  i.  14),  but  to  Jehovah 
as  his  God.  from  whom  he  had  tried  to  escape,  and 
whom  he  now  addresses  again  as  his  God,  when 
in  peril  of  death.  "  He  shows  his  faith  by  adoring 
Him  as  his  God."  (Burk.)  The  prayer  consists 
for  the  most  part  of  reminiscences  of  passages  in 
the  Psalms,  which  were  so  exactly  suited  to  Jonah's 
circumstances,  that  he  could  not  have  expressed  his 
thoughts  and  feelings  any  better  in  words  of  his 
own.  It  is  by  no  means  so  "  atomically  compound- 
ed from  passages  in  the  Psalms  "  that  there  is  any 
ground  for  pronouncing  it  "  a  later  production 
which  has  been  attributed  to  Jonah,  "  as  Knobel 
and  De  Wette  do ;  but  it  is  the  simple  and  natural 
utterance  of  a  man  versed  in  Holy  Scripture  and 
living  in  the  word  of  God,  and  is  in  perfect  ac- 
cordance with  the  prophet's  circumstances  and  the 
state  of  his  mind."  (Keil  and  Delitzsch,  On  Jo- 
nah.)—C.  E.l 

["  Some  or  the  Rabbins,  Hezel  and  others,  would 

argue  from  the  use  of  )ft,  from,  out  of,  and  not  3, 
in,  before  ^P  that  the  prayer  of  Jonah  was  not 


lib 


JONAH. 


presented  while  he  was  in  the  helly  of  the  fish,  I 
hut  after  his  deliverance;  hnt  this  interpretation  is 
justly  rejected,  both  by  Aben  Ezra  and  Kimchi. 
The  preposition  marks  the  place  from  which  he 
directed  his  thoughts  to  the  Most  High."  (Hen- 
derson,  On  Jonah.)  —  C.  E.] 

Vers.  3-10.  The  prayer  of  Jonah,  which  is  not 
a  supplicatory,  but  a  thanksgiving  prayer,  is  in 
this  place  to  be  understood  only  from  the  design  of 
the  book  (compare  the  Introduction,  3,  pp.  6,  7). 
Also  what  Keil,  following  the  early  interpreters, 
observes,  has  its  truth  only  from  the  point  of  view, 
that  when  Jonah  had  been  swallowed  by  the  fish 
and  had  found  that  he  was  preserved  in  its  belly, 
he  regarded  this  as  a  pledge  of  his  future  complete 
deliverance,  and  for  this  thanked  the  Lord.  Con- 
sidered in  a  purely  historical  light  [Bei  rein  histo- 
rischem  Verstandniss],  it  might  be  said  that  the 
prolongation  of  life  in  this  manner  [in  the  fish's 
belly]  would  rather  awaken  the  idea  of  a  much 
more  loathsome  death  than  drowning,  and  hence 
the  accompanying  feeling  must  have  been,  not 
that  of  thanksgiving,  but  of  painful  uncertainty. 
Moreover,  something  at  least  would  have  been  said 
in  the  prayer,  of  that  intermediate  idea  of  a  pledge ; 
but  no  trace  of  it  is  to  be  found. 

The  structure  of  this  hymn,  composed  after 
the  manner  of  the  Psalms  and  filled  with  reminis- 
cences of  passages  from  them,  falls  into  three 
strophes,  namely  ver.  4  f .  .  6  f .  .  8 ;  which  are  set 
in  the  frame  of  a  brief  exordium  and  of  a  conclu- 
sion summing  up  the  whole  in  an  aphorism  and  a 
vow,  ver.  9  f.  Each  of  these  strophes  represents 
a  degree  in  the  ascent  from  distress  to  deliverance ; 
so  that  strophe  1  advances  to  hope ;  strophe  2  to 
deliverance  ;  and  strophe  3  stops  on  this  eminence 
Compare,  concerning  the  form  and  kind  of  prayer, 
the  Introduction,  p.  8. 

Ver.  3.  The  brief  preamble  :  I  cried  out  of 
the  distress  which  was  upon  me,  to  Jehovah, 
and  He  answered  me.  Comp.  Ps.  cxvi.  1  f.  With 
trifling  variations,  "  which  very  naturally  occur  in 
quotations  from  memory"  (Goldhorn),  it  resembles 

Ps.  cxx.  1,  which  has    V  '~'J7'~J'^?5  whereas  this 

verse  with  the  same  periphrastic  suffix  reads,  nn-!5p 

V«  The  parallel :  Out  of  the  womb  of  Sheol  I 
cried :  Thou  heardest  my  voice.  That  the  ex- 
pression womb  of  Sheol  is  figurative,  is  proved  by 

its  parallelism  to  f  "J.^-  Sheol  in  the  language  of 
the  Psalms,  is  often  used  for  the  inevitable  peril 
of  death :  compare  the  way  to  perdition,  Proverbs, 
vii.  27.  To  ascribe  to  it  a  belly  or  a  womb,  as  at 
other  times  a  mouth  (Ps.  clxi.  7),  or  jaws  (Is.  v. 
14),  was  certainly  not  indicated  by  the  situation 
as  the  act  of  Jonah,  who  describes  something  past 
and  not  present,  but  was  done  by  the  narrator,  who 
produces  the  prayer.  (Compare  Luther's  observa- 
tion, in  thelntrod.,  p.  8). 

The  alleged  mechanical  compilation  of  this 
prayer  from  passages  in  the  Psalms  reduces  itself 
also  here  to  involuntary  reminiscences  of  isolated 
expressions  found  in  them.  (Comp.  Ps.  cxxx  :  2 ; 
xxviii.  1  ff.)  [Comp.  Ps.  cxx.  1  with  Jonah  ii.  3; 
Ps.  xlii.  8  with  ver.  4  ;  Ps.  xxxi.  23  with  ver.  5  ; 
Ps.  cxlii.  4  with  ver.  8  ;  Ps.  xxxi.  7  with  ver.  9  ;  Ps. 
iii.  9  with  ver.  10.1  Henderson  On  Jonah. — C.  E.] 

Strophe  I.,  vers.  4,  5. 

Ver.  4  is  an  enlarged  picture  of  the  painful  situa- 

1  I*  must  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Henderson  numbers 
lie  last  verse  of  the  first  chapter  as  it  stands  in  the 
KnglUh   Version,    as  the  first  verse  of   the    second  chan- 


tion  that  he  experienced.  The  connection  indicated 
by  1  conjunctive, is  not  so  close  as  to  prevent  *he  verb 
from  being  rendered  in  the  pluperfect.  Yea,  thou 
hadst  cast  me  into  the  abyss,  into  the  midst  of 
the  seas  (comp.  Ps.  xlvi.  3^  :  and  thy  streams 
surrounded  me ;  all  thy  billows  and  waves 
went  over  me  (Ps.  lxxxviii.  7  t.  ;  Ps.  lxix.  2  ff). 
These  are  frequent  images  of  the  deepest  misery, 
which,  in  this  instance,  receive,  from  the  situation, 
a  particularly  impressive  character,  and  give  the 
key  to  the  understanding  of  the  symbolism  of  the 
whole  narrative.  In  Jonah  overwhelmed  by  the 
waves,  Israel,  whose  frame  of  mind  is  exhibited  in 
Ps.  lxxxviii.,  is  again  represented.  The  state  of 
heart  required  by  God  for  deliverance,  a  state  pro- 
duced by  faith,  which,  in  the  deepest  distress,  rests 
upon  the  word  and  promise  of  God,  and  which, 
contrary  to  all  external  experience,  does  not  relin- 
quish its  confidence  in  invisible  things,  which  are 
the  objects  of  hope  in  our  present  condition,  is  ex- 
quisitely described  by  the  brief  antithetic  contrast 
in  ver.  5  :  And  I  said  (comp.  Ps.  xxx.  7)  I  am 
cast  out  from  before  thine  eyes  —  the  gracious 
experience  of  thy  favor —  (Is.  xxxiv.  16  ;  Ps.  xxxi 
23),  yet  surely  [TfS,  a  particle  of  strong  opposi- 
tion, of  decided  contrast  (Is.  xiv.  15)]  I  will  look 
again  toward  Thy  holy  temple,  for  which  Israel, 
in  his  forlorn  condition,  ardently  longs  (Ps.  xlii. 
5).  Compare  a  similar  flash  of  hope  in  the  night 
of  suffering,  in  Job  xix.  22  ff.  ["  Green  would 
supply  the  negative  ^^  before  Fp£>iS  and  Hitzig 
would  point  "rj^  "rj^  for  TI^S,  how;    but   both 

without  any  authority.  Such  sudden  transitions 
from  fear  to  hope  are  frequently  expressed  in 
Scripture."    (Henderson  On  Jonah.)  — C.  E.] 

["  The  thought  that  it  is  all  over  with  him  is  met 
by  the  confidence  of  faith  that  he  will  still  look  to 
the  holy  temple  of  the  Lord,  that  is  to  say,  will 
once  more  approach  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  to 
worship  before  Him  in  his  temple,  —  an  assurance 
which  recalls  Ps.  v.  8  (7)." 

"  The  figure  of  bolts  of  the  earth  that  were  shut 
behind  Jonah,  which  we  only  meet  with  here  ("T37?, 
from  the  phrase  "1??  f/771  "1?9»  to  shut  the 
door  behind  a  person :  Gen.  vii.  16 ;  2  K.  iv.  4,  5, 
33  ;  Is.  xxvi.  20),  has  an  analogy  in  the  idea  which 
occurs  in  Job  xxxviii.  10,  of  bolts  and  doors  of  the 
ocean.  The  bolts  of  the  sea  are  the  walls  of  the 
sea-basin,  which  set  bounds  to  the  sea,  that  it  can- 
not pass  over.  Consequently  the  bolts  of  the  earth 
can  only  be  such  barriers  as  restrain  the  land  from 
spreading  over  the  sea.  These  barriers  are  the 
weight  and  force  of  the  waves,  which  prevent  the 
land  from  encroaching  on  the  sea.  This  weight  of 
the  waves,  or  of  the  great  masses  of  water,  which 
pressed  upon  Jonah  when  he  had  sunk  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sea,  shut  or  bolted  against  him  the  way 
back  to  the  earth  (the  land)  just  as  the  bolts  that 
are  drawn  before  the  door  of  a  house,  fasten  up 
the  entrance  into  it ;  so  that  the  reference  is  neither 
to  "  the  rocks  jutting  out  above  the  water,  which 
prevented  any  one  from  ascending  from  the  sea 
to  the  land,"  nor  "  densissima  terroz  compages,  qua 
abysms  tecta  Jonam  in  hoc  constitntum  occludebat* 
(Marck),  Keil  and  Delitzsch. —  C.  E.] 

ter.  This  explanation  is  necessary  in  order  to  un<la( 
stand  the  references  quoted  above.  —  C.  K.] 


CHAPTER  II. 


Strophe  II.,  vers.  6,  7. 

The  picture  receives  again  a  deeper  shade,  in 
view  of  the  misery  which  he  experienced. 

Ver.  6.  "Waters  encompassed  me  (Ps.  xviii.  5) 
even  to  the  soul  (Ps.  lxix.  2) :  the  abyss  sur- 
rounded me  ;  seaweed  was  wound  around  my 
breast,  —  all  individual  and  independent  state- 
ments descriptive  of  his  situation. 

["tt7p5""T?j  even  to,  or  to  the  very  soul,  i.  e. 
the  animal  life ;  meaning  to  the  extinction  of  life. 
^V©  is  the  alga,  or  weed,  which  ab>i;nds  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  and  from  which  the  Arabian 
gulf  takes  the  name  of  ^D'O*,  the  sea  of  weeds. 

Kimchi  explains  it  by  ^P12,  the  papyrus,  or  bul- 
rush. Gesenius  refines  too  much  when  he  attaches 
to  ttJ'Qn  in  this  place  the  idea  of  binding  round 
the  head  like  a  turban.  Assuredly  Jonah  had  no 
such  idea  in  his  mind.  He  rather  describes  how  he 
felt,  as  if  entangled  by  the  sedge  or  weeds  through 
which  he  was  dragged."  (Henderson,  On  Jonah.) 
—  C.  E.] 

Ver.  7.  To  the  extremities,  i.  e.,  to  the  foun- 
dations of  the  mountains,  which  lie  deep  under 
the  sea  (Ps.  civ.  4  (3);  xviii.  16  (15)),  I  dived 
down  ;  the  earth  —  her  bars  —  the  beams  with 
which  her  foundation  structure  is  fastened  (Ps.  civ. 
5) — were  around  me  [Hitzig:  behind  me;  then 
I  seemed  thrust  out  from  the  land  of  the  living, 
(Jer.  xi.  19)]  for  ever;  so  thought  the  sinking 
prophet;  for  present  sufferings  and  the  perils  of 
death  made  upon  his  miud  the  impression  of  the 
everlasting  and   the  inevitable    (Ps.   xiii.  2  (1)). 

Thou  didst  raise  my  life  from  the  pit  (nnC7, 
as  in  Job  xvii.  14),  Jehovah  my  God  (Ps.  xxx. 

i  (3)). 

Strophe  III. 

Ver.  8.  Casts  once  more  a  glance  upon  his  afflic- 
tion :  "When  my  soul  (Ps.  cxlii.  4)  fainted  to 
dying  (Ps.  xlii.  5)  within  me ;  in  order  to  include 
with  it  directly  the  deliverance  :  Jehovah  (a  beau- 
tiful inversion)  I  remembered  (Ps.  xlii.  7  (6)), 
and  my  prayer  came  to  Thee  into  Thy  holy 
temple,  from  which  pravers  are  heard  (Ps.  xviii. 
7  (6)). 

The  conclusion  (vers.  9,  10)  places  in  an  anti- 
thetic manner,  which  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
the  Psalms,  the  vow  of  the  pious  man,  who, 
through  divine  grace,  has  resolved  to  lead  a  new 
life,  in  contrast  with  the  destruction  of  the  un- 
godly, whom  God  does  not  deliver. 

Ver.  9.  Those  who  observe  lying  vanities  — 
the  Piel  of  "l^*-"  like  the  Hithpael  (Mich.  vi.  16), 
for  the  intensive  degree  of  the  Kal  signification  — 
forsake  their  own  mercy.  The  reference  to  the 
heathen  sailors,  which  the  earlier  interpreters. 
almost  without  exception,  give  to  this  verse,  is, 
according  to  the  description  of  them  in  the  first 
chapter,  certainly  altogether  unauthorized.  The 
thought  is  entirely  general,  but  (from  the  scope  of 
the  whole)  with  parenetical,  secondary  application 
to  the   Israelites,  who  in  calamity  did   not  seek 

their  help  in  God,  but  in  idols  (D^vQH,  comp. 
Pent,  xxxii.  21).  These  apostates  come  by  the 
short  and  energetic  expression,  in  harmony  with 
Gen.  xxiv.  27,  into  direct  opposition  to  God,  who 

never  abandons  his  mercy.  1DT1  is  the  gracious 
cond'tioB  of  the  2N"TDn,  the  pious  (Is  lvii.  1). 


["  "^PC,  lit.  their  mercy,  or  goodness ;  by  meton- 
ymy for  their  Benefactor,  i.e.  God,  the  author  and 
source  of  all  goodness;  the  supreme  good.  Comp. 
Ps.  cxliv.  2,  where  David  calls  God  "Ipn.  The 
word  properly  signifies  kindness  or  benignity,  and 
most  appropriately  designates  Him  who  is  good  to 
all,  and  whose  tender  mercies  are  over  all  his 
works."  (Henderson,  On  Jonah.)  So  also  Keil  aud 
Delitzseh  and  Pusey.  —  C.  E.J 

Ver.  10.  But  I,  says  Israel,  conformably  to  Ps 
1.  14,  will  sacrifice  to  thee  with  the  voice  of 
thanksgiving.  What  I  have  vowed  I  will  pay. 
With  the  joyful  ascription,  salvation  belong  to 
Jehovah,  the  whole  prayer  closes,  like  Ps.  iii. 
That  is  the  salvation,  which  He  will  give  to  his 
people,  after  their  affliction,  at  the  time  of  the  con- 
summation, looking  to  which  the  true  Israel,  even 
in  the  belly  of  the  fish,  in  the  sorrows  of  banish- 
ment and  exile,  praises  Him  (Is.  xxvi.  2  ;  xxv.  10 ; 
Gen.  xlix.  18). 

Ver.  11.  The  Deliverance.  Jehovah  spake  to 
the  fish  and  it  vomited  up  Jonah  on  dry  land. 
Xlpoo-TaTTtTai  iraKiv  to  kt)tos  Qzia  rivl  tea.)  anroffitTw 
Swa/Adi  8(ov  npbs  rb  avrtS  doxovv  Kivov/xevov.  Cvril. 
Cocceins,  in  order  to  bring  the  miracle  nearer  to  the 
natural  understanding,  refers  to  the  statements  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Oppian,  concerning  certain 
fish,  which  swallow  their  young  when  danger 
threatens,  and  vomit  them  out  again.  He  refers 
also  to  the  accounts  in  Pliny  and  Athenaens,  that 
an  entire  man  clad  in  armor  has  been  found  in  the 
belly  of  a  great  sea-monster  (Pliny,  Canicula, 
Athen.  Carcharias).  There  were  found,  says  Keil, 
on  the  authority  of  Oken  (Animal  Kingdom,  vol. 
iii.  p.  55  ft'.,  1836),  about  a  dozen  of  tunny-fish, 
undigested,  in  a  shark  caught  in  Sardinia;  and  in 
another  even  an  entire  horse.  (This  fish  can  erect 
and  lay  its  teeth  at  pleasure,  because  they  are 
fastened  only  in  the  cellular  tissue  [Hautzeflrn]). 
Rondelet  says  that  he  has  seen  one  on  the  west 
coast  of  France,  through  whose  throat  a  fat  man 
could  easily  pass.  In  the  year  1758,  a  sailor,  dur- 
ing a  storm,  fell  overboard  from  a  frigate  into  the 
Mediterranean  sea,  and  was  immediately  seized  by 
a  shark  and  disappeared.  The  captain  of  the 
vessel  caused  a  cannon,  which  was  standing  on 
the  deck,  to  be  discharged  at  the  shark,  the  ball  of 
which  struck  it,  so  that  it  vomited  out  the  sailor, who 
was  then  taken  up  alive  and  only  a  little  injured, 
into  a  sloop  that  had  come  to  his  assistance,  and 
thus  saved.  On  the  other  side,  Cornelius  a  Lapide 
attempts  to  explain  the  vomiting,  at  least,  as  a 
natural  occurrence  produced  by  the  uncomforta 
bleness  of  the  fish.  We  think  "that  no  service  is 
done  either  to  the  matter  or  to  the  interpretation 
[Versldndniss]  of  the  book  by  this  rationalizing 
apologetic  attempt  (sec  above,  p.  2),  and  especially 
in  reference  to  the  latter  question  we  are  of  the 
opinion  of  Theodoret,  who  calls  subtle  inquiries 
concerning  these  things  an  a.v6-nro%  TTo\\rn*a.\p.oo- 
vvrj,  a  foolish  officiousness. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL' 
(See  above,  pp.  5,  6,  9,  10.) 

'    HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Eternal  Redemption  in  Time.    Introduction 
—  Israel,  a  prefiguration  of  Christendom ;  Jonah, 
1  [Reicfugedanlcen.    See  note,  p.  20.  —  C.  K  ] 


M 


JONAH. 


•  type  of  Israel.     Corap.  vcr.  8  with  1   K.  viii. 
46  n\ 

1.  We  still  wander  in  the  place  of  imprisonment, 
2,  4,  oa,  6,  Tab.  [Daily  sins  and  the  common. 
guilt  of  the  human  race  encompass  us  within  and 
without;  our  body  is  au  earthly  house,  in  which 
our  immortal  part  lies  shut  up;  around  us  is  the 
sighing  of  the  creature,  which  longs  for  the  glori- 
ous manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.] 

2.  But  we  are  redeemed,  ver.  3,  5b,  "c-10.  [The 
fact  is  absolute  and  eternal :  the  appropriation  is 
effected  in  time,  and  that  through  faith,  which  is  a 
certain,  confident  apprehension  of  that  which  is 
still  invisible,  5b,  8.  Whoever  renounces  it  [faith] 
has  no  part  in  redemption  (ver.  9).  In  the  service 
of  God  we  bring  that  which  is  eternal  into  time, 
and  think  as  if  we  were  perfected;  because  the 
beginning  of  redemption,  planted  in  us,  includes 
within  it  its  completion  (vers.  3,  10). 

Ver.  1.  In  that  which  for  the  moment  seems 
most  painful  and  most  insupportable,  the  gracious 
haud  of  our  God  is  often  very  near  to  us.  Every- 
thing which  God  sends  has  its  fixed  time  and  ap- 
pointed end ;  a  time  not  longer  than  we  are  able 
to  bear  it.  Thou  who  complainest  of  affliction, 
hast  thou  ever  thought  what  grace  it  is  on  the  part 
of  God  that  thou  art  alive?  —  Ver.  2.  There  is  no 
place  so  desolate  and  dark  that  it  cannot  be  turned 
into  a  temple  of  God  by  the  praying  saint.  —  Ver. 
3.  There  is  no  failure  in  God's  answer,  but  the 
failure  is  in  calling  upon  Him.  Can  we  need  hit- 
man mediators,  in  order  to  be  heard  by  Him,  who 
hears  the  voice  of  him  who  cries  from  the  bosom 
of  hell?  The  invocation  of  saints  is  a  relapse  into 
a  practice,  that  is  far  below  the  teachings  of  the 
Old  Testament.  —  Ver.  4.  We  ought  never  to  for- 
get, that  wherever  we  are,  we  are  placed  there  by 
God  [wir  von  Gott  dahin  (jethan  sind] ,  and  that  all 
the  waves  and  billows  that  go  over  us  are  his 
■waves  and  billows.  In  the  Old  Testament  God 
Bends  the  tempest  of  the  waves  and  billows.  In 
the  New  Testament  He  commands  them  to  be  still ; 
in  both  they  are  obedient  to  Him. — Ver.  5.  With 
the  natural  man  arises  first  defiance,  then  despair  : 
with  the  redeemed  man  strength  is  realized  out  of 
despair  by  the  power  of  the  spirit.  The  declara- 
tions of  faith  are  all  paradoxes  and  contrasts. 
Because  I  suffer,  I  shall  be  glorified.  —  Ver.  6  ff. 
If  I  descend  to  hell,  behold  Thou  art  there.  Such 
is  the  anguish  of  the  hour  of  death  that  one  no 
longer  perceives  aught  of  love  around  him,  but  all 
around  the  head  and  on  every  side  waters,  which 
go  even  to  the  soul,  so  that  the  spirit  faints  within 
us.  God's  temple  is  near  in  all  places.  But  who 
ever  speaks  of  it  as  Jonah  does  here,  it  is  evident 
that  he  also  loves  the  visible  place,  where  God's 
honor  dwelleth.  Whoever  despises  this  place,  to 
him  that  truth  will  not  come  to  remembrance  in 
the  time  of  trouble.  The  want  of  the  means  of 
grace  is  not  damnable  to  him  only,  whose  soul  does 
not  despise  thein.  —  Ver.  9.  Where  lying  vanities 
take  up  their  abode  in  the  heart,  there  is  the  con- 
tempt of  God,  or  there  it  grows ;  it  is  there  also 
where  man  either  makes  earthly  things  God's,  or 
forms  for  himself  delusive  ideas  concerning  God. 
Falling  from  a  state  of  grace,  may  happen  alto- 
gether insensibly ;  but  it  certainly  commences  with 
a  divided  heart.  —  Ver.  1 0.  The"  history  of  Jonah 
is  a  shadow  of  future  tilings  ;  he  leaves  it  to  the 
heathen  to  bring  a  sacrifice  (i.  16),  he  himself  oilers 
thanksgiving. — Ver.  11.  Turn  the  prison  of  the 
world  into  the  temple  of  God,  and  it  will  not  be 
able  to  detain  thee.  God  does  not  leave  his  saints 
in  hell  (Ps.  xvi.  10).     We  are  buried  with  Christ 


by  baptism  nnto  death;  that  like  as  Christ  wa! 
raised  up  from  the  dead,  even  so  we  also  should 
walk  in  newness  of  life  (Horn.  vi.  4). 

Luthek  :  Ver.  3.  Two  great  and  necessary  les- 
sons :  1.  That  we  should  before  all  things  run 
speedily  to  God,  and  cry  to  Him  in  trouble  and 
make  our  complaints  to  Him.  Canst  thou  ca'1 
and  cry,  then  there  is  no  more  danger.  For  even 
hell  would  not  be  hell,  nor  continue  hell,  if  in  it 
one  could  call  upon  ani  cry  to  God.  Nature  of 
course  cannot  do  otherwise,  nor  be  otherwise,  than 
as  it  feels.  But  now  while  it  feels  God's  wrath  and 
punishment,  if  it  regards  Him  as  an  angry  tyrant 
it  cannot  rise  above  such  feelings  and  pressthrough 
to  God.  Therefore,  since  Jonah  has  gone  so  far 
as  to  cry,  he  has  won.  2.  That  we  also  feel  in  our 
hearts,  that  it  is  such  a  cry  as  God  will  answer. 
This  is  nothing  else  than  to  call  with  true  faith  of 
heart.  For  the  head  does  not  erect  itself,  nor  do  the 
hands  raise  themselves,  before  the  heart  is  raised. 
What  hell  is  before  the  last  day,  I  am  not  posi- 
tive. That  it  is  a  particular  place,  where  lost  souls 
are  now  constantly  kept,  as  painters  portray  and 
as  gluttons  preach,  I  do  not  believe;  for  the  devils 
are  not  yet  in  hell  (Eph.  vi.  12  ;  John  xiv.  30). 
Therefore,  the  Scriptures  use  the  word  Sheol  with 
propriety,  for  the  purpose  of  designating  the  last 
agonies  of  death.  But  at  the  last  day  it  will  cer- 
tainly become  a  different  thing.  —  Ver.  5.  The 
idea  of  his  being  cast  out  from  God's  countenance, 
has  in  the  first  place  a  reference  to  his  body;  for  he 
felt  in  his  heart  that  he  must  die ;  in  the  second 
place,  to  his  soul,  as  if  he  were  eternally  cast  out 
from  God.  —  Ver.  8.  The  powers  and  energies  of 
his  soul  yielded  to  despair.  But  that  he  thinks  of 
the  Lord  and  begins  to  believe,  is  not  the  work  of 
his  soul ;  the  spirit  and  no  one  else  can  think  of  the 
Lord.  When  the  remembrance  of  the  Lord  enters 
the  heart,  then  a  new  light  arises ;  then  life  once 
more  sheds  forth  its  rays ;  then  the  heart  again  re- 
ceives courage  to  call ;  and  then  too  he  is  certainly 
heard.  In  the  Old  Testament  all  prayers  were  re- 
quired to  come  to  the  mercy-seat;  so  now  in  the 
New  Testament  all  prayers  must  come  to  Jesus 
Christ.  —  Ver.  9.  Jonah  reproves  in  this  verse 
those  devoid  of  understanding,  who  seek  holiness 
by  their  own  deeds,  and  hypocrites,  who  do  not 
trust  in  God's  grace  alone,  but  in  their  own  works. 
—  Ver.  10.  Where  the  saints  in  the  Scriptures 
speak  of  paying  vows  and  do  not  express  any  one 
[vow]  in  particular, we  must  understand  the  common 
vow  of  all,  who  are  God's  people,  namely,  that  we 
will  have  no  God  but  Him  alone. —  Ver.  11.  Now 
everything  is  reversed  :  that  which  before  tended  to 
death  must  now  tend  to  life. 

Starke  :  Ver.  1 .  God  can  preserve  a  man 
miraculously  against  the  course  of  nature  (1  K. 
xvii.  4  ff.).  —  Ver.  2.  God  is  not  only  the  God  of 
all  believers  in  general,  but  also  of  each  one  par- 
ticularly (Ps.  lxiii.  2).  —  Ver.  3.  Nothing  can 
better  excite  a  man  to  gratitude  toward  God  than 
to  consider  diligently  the  trouble  and  danger  from 
which  God  has  delivered  him.  —  Ver.  4.  It  is 
great  misery  to  lie  in  the  water;  but  the  greatest 
is  to  be  cast  out  from  God.  —  Ver.  5.  When  we 
have  bodily  trouble,  it  ordinarily  so  arouses  the 
guilty  conscience,  that  our  distress  is  doubled.  In 
the  hour  of  death  Satan  is  most  active  with  his 
temptations,  and  would  like  to  cast  us  into  despair. 
— Ver.  6.  God,  moved  by  righteous  judgment  and 
wise  design,  often  visits  with  many  trials  and  af- 
flictions of  different  kinds  those  who  have  already 
exercised  true  repentance.  —  Ver.  7.  It  is  a  spe- 
cial, gracious  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  if  He  givet 


CHAPTER   II. 


2*9 


to  believers,  in  the  midst  of  their  troubles,  not  only 
a  good  hope  of  the  diviue  aid,  but  also  strengthens 
them  in  the  faith,  so  that  they  consider  it  as  al- 
ready actually  attained  (Ex.  xiv.  13  ;  2  Chron.  xx. 
13  ff"  ).  —  Ver.  8.  When  we  come  into  the  pains 
of  death,  and  our  mouth  can  no  longer  speak,  then 
should  our  heart  sigh  to  God.  —  Ver.  10.  One 
should  keep  his  vows  (Eccles.  v.  4). —  Ver.  11. 
God  gives  beyond  our  asking  and  our  understand- 
ing. The  almighty  hand  of  God  will  one  day 
restore  to  life  those  who  have  perished  in  the  waters 
(Rev.  xx.  13). 

Pfaff  :  Ver.  4.  0,  how  good  it  is  for  the  soul 
to  feel  the  anger  of  the  Lord  and  to  be  driven  into 
straits ;  for  thereby  it  is  brought  right  to  God,  and 
its  faith  is  strengthened.  —  Ver.  5.  A  child  of  God 
longs  for  the  temple  and  public  service  of  God,  in 
order  to  praise  the  Lord  becomingly  in  the  con- 
gregation and  to  be  quickened  by  the  mutual  prayer 
of  the  pious. 

Qcandt  :  Our  Lord  has  interpreted  to  us,  in 
the  New  Testament,  the  history  contained  in  this 
chapter  as  a  prophecy  of  Him ;  as  a  sign  of  his 
death,  of  his  descent  to  Hades,  and  of  his  resur- 
rection. On  this  account  this  chapter  acquires  a 
glory,  which  the  other  three  have  not.  —  Ver  1 . 
If  a  man  should  be  received  unhurt  into  a  fish's 
body,  according  to  the  course  of  nature  he  cannot 
breathe  and  live  a  single  hour.  At  all  events  the 
Lord  wrought  a  miracle  in  the  case  of  Jonah ;  we 
can  in  his  case  altogether  dispense  with  natural 
history.  With  many  repentance  is  a  mere  specu- 
lation on  the  act  of  bestowing  grace,  —  a  specula- 
tion that  fails,  when  the  Lord  leads  the  soul  still 
deeper  into  judgment  or  misery.  Not  so  with 
Jonah.  —  Ver.  2.  Jonah  was  very  well  acquainted 
with  the  Psalter  and  had  committed  to  memory 
many  a  prayer  of  the  saints.  This  was  of  great 
advantage  to  him  now,  as  his  prayer  shows.  There 
is  good  reason  why  a  man  should  come  before  the 
throne  of  the  Merciful  One,  with  his  own  words, 
instead  of  set  forms.  But  in  times  of  spiritual 
drought  a  manual  has  also  its  advantages.  —  Ver. 
4.  With  Thou  and  Thine  Jonah  clings  to  the  same 
Divine  hand,  which  punishes  him,  and  therefore 
this  hand  must  raise  him  from  the  deep  to  a  high 
place.  — Ver.  8.  ff.  Jonah  trusts  that  God,  who  had 
delivered  his  soul,  would  now  also  do  the  less  and 
save  his  body.  By  faith  he  sees  his  deliverance  as 
already  accomplished,  and  for  that  reason  prom- 
ises to  God  offerings  of  thanksgiving. 

Augustine  :  Ver.  1 .  Jonah  prophesied  of 
Christ,  not  so  much  by  his  words  as  by  sufferings  ; 
and  evidently  more  clearly  than  if  he  had  an- 
nounced his  sufferings  and  resurrection  by  words. 

Marck  :  God  often  makes  an  end  of  temptation 
contrary  to  human  expectation  (1  Cor.  x.  13), 
and  never  denies  his  favor,  because  He  cannot 
deny  Himself  (2  Tim.  ii.  13). 

Lavater  :  That  Jonah  could  draw  breath  in 
the  belly  of  the  fish,  or  receive  as  much  air  as  he 
had  need  of,  was  just  as  possible  as  that  a  child 
can  live  in  its  mother's  womb. 

Burck:  Ver.  2.  Wonderful  change  (i.  6) — he 
:nade  little  haste  to  pray ;  he  suffered  himself  to 
be  driven  to  it.  Now  in  the  deepest  misery  he  prays 
not  only  most  earnestly,  but  most  confidently. 

Theodoret  :  Ver.  3.  I,  says  he,  who  hereto- 
fore thought  that  thou  dwellest  only  in  Jerusalem, 
and  only  there  revealest  thyself  to  the  prophets, 
found  thee  present  in  the  belly  of  the  fish,  etc. 

Burck  :  We  have  in  this  prayer  an  example  of 
the  right  use  of  the  Psalter.  Even  the  holy  men 
af  God,  who  were  partakers  of  the  inspiration  of 


the  Holy  Ghost,  have  tot  refused  to  appeal  tj  and 
to  cite  formally  the  b(  oks  of  Scripture,  which  ex- 
isted already  in  their  time.  A  strong  argument 
for  the  authority  of  tiie  holy  Scriptures. 

Riegek  :  We  should  in  this  sign  consider  Jonah 
particularly  as  a  type  of  the  deep  humiliation  of 
the  Son  of  God  in  the  midst  of  the  earth  and  of 
his  reviving  from  the  dead,  that  event,  whose  light 
ever  afterward  falls  on  all  the  paths  of  life,  other- 
wise still  so  deep  and  dark. 

Rieger  :  To  attain  good  by  means  of  the  wrath 
which  one  experiences  is  no  small  matter.  It  is 
as  if  one  were  obliged  to  pass  through  nothing 
but  spears  and  swords.  Many  expressious  in  the 
prayer  of  Jonah  are  taken  from  the  Psalms.  So 
in  similar  circumstances  something  out  of  the 
Scriptures  will  occur,  often  only  after  a  long  time, 
to  the  memory  of  the  sufferer. 

Rieger  :  Ver.  5.  What  an  eternal  sting  do  all 
our  humiliations  carry  with  them,  when  three 
days  and  three  nights  can  become  as  long  to  a 
man  as  if  he  were  forever  isolated. 

Burck  :  Ver.  7.  Here  first,  in  the  end  of  his 
prayer,  Jonah  ventures  to  use  the  direct  and  •on- 
fident  address  :  Jehovah,  my  God,  doubtless  with 
the  most  heartfelt  delight.  Before  he  had  humbly 
and  anxiously  abstained  from  it. 

Hieronymus  :  Ver.  9.  Those  who  not  merely 
practice  vanity  (for  all  is  vanity,  therefore  all  prac- 
tice it),  but  observe  it  as  if  they  loved  it  and  found 
a  treasure  in  it. 

Schmieder  :  Ver.  10.  All  help  comes  from  tha 
Lord,  even  where  He  helps  through  means  ;  there- 
fore we  should  not  trust  in  the  means,  whether 
tilings  or  persons,  but  in  the  Lord,  and  thank  Him 
first  for  all  help.  —  Ver.  1 1 .  The  instinct  of  beasts 
can  be  controlled  by  the  will  of  God.  (Com p. 
Dan.  vi.  22.) 

Schlier  :  What  was  likely  to  be  the  effect  upon 
Jonah,  who  experienced  such  a  miraculous  inter- 
position on  the  part  of  his  God  !  What  was  likely 
to  be  the  effect  upon  others,  who  heard  of  it,  for 
the  report  of  the  miracle  soon  spread  abroad. 
Even  the  heathen  fables  know  something  of  it. 
[In  the  poem,  Cassandra,  ascribed  to  Lycophron, 
and  in  a  fragment  of  the  logographer  Hellenicus, 
cited  by  the  Scholiasts  on  Homer's  Iliad,  xx.  14."), 
it  is  related,  that  Hercules  delivered  Hesione  by 
entering  into  the  belly  of  a  sea-monster,  to  which 
she  was  exposed,  whose  entrails  he  tore  in  pieces 
and  came  out  again  in  safety  ;  and  the  church 
fathers  state  that  the  myth  ascribes  to  his  stay  in 
the  monster's  belly  three  days'  continuance.] 

[Calvin:  9  (10.)  It  must  be  noticed  here  that 
the  worship  of  God  especially  consists  in  praises, 
as  it  is  said  in  Ps.  L  :  lor  there  God  shows  that  he 
regards  as  nothing  all  sacrifices,  except  they  an- 
swer this  end  —  to  set  forth  the  praise  of  his  name. 
It  was  indeed  his  will  that  sacrifices  should  be  of- 
fered to  Him  under  the  law;  but  it  was  for  the  end 
just  stated  ;  for  God  cares  not  for  calves  and  oxen, 
for  goats  and  lambs;  but  his  will  was  that  He 
should  be  acknowledged  as  the  Giver  of  all  bless- 
ings. Hence  He  says  there  "  sacrifice  to  me  the 
sacrifice  of  praise." 

Matthew  Henry  :  Ver.  2.  No  place  is  amiss 
for  prayer.  /  will  that  men  pray  everywhere 
wherever  God  casts  us  we  may  find  a  way  o;joii 
heavenward,  if  it  be  not  our  own  fault.  — Ver.  10 
Jonah's  experience  shall  encourage  others,  in  all 
ages,  to  trust  in  God,  as  the  God  of  their  salvation  . 
all  that  read  this  story,  shall  say  it  with  assurance, 
say  it  with  admiration,  that  salvation  is  of  th« 
Lord,  and  is  sure  to  all  that  belong  to  Him. 


au 


JONAH. 


Posey:  7  (8).  But  when  it  came  to  the  ut- 
most, then  he  says,  2"  remembered  the  Lord,  as 
though,  in  the  intense  thought  of  God  then,  all  his 
former  thought  of  God  had  been  forgetfulness. 
So  it  is  in  every  strong  act  of  faith,  of  love,  of 
prayer;  its  former  state  seems  unworthy  of  the 
same  of  faith,   love,   prayer.     It  believes,  loves, 


prays,  as  though  all  before  had  been  forgetfulness 
—  Ver.  9  (10).  God  seems  often  to  wait  for  the 
full  resignation  of  the  soul,  all  its  powers  and  will 
to  Him.  Then  He  can  show  mercy  healthfully, 
when  the  soul  is  wholly  surrendered  to  Him.  S« 
on  this  full  confession  Jonah  is  restored.  —  C.  E. 


CHAPTER  III. 

*\The  Renewal  of  Jonah's  Commission  (vers.  1,  2).  His  Preaching  to  the  Ninevites 
(vers.  3-4).  Humiliation  and  Reformation  of  the  Ninevites  (vers.  5-9.)  Re- 
versal of  the  Divine  Sentence  (ver.  10).  —  C.  E.] 

1  And  the  word  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  [was  communicated]   unto  Jonah 

2  the  second   time,  saying,  Arise,  go  unto  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  ana  preach  unto 

3  it  the  preaching  [make  the  proclamation  to  it]  that  I  bid  thee.  So  [And]  Jonah 
arose,  and  went  unto  [to]  Nineveh,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]. 
Now  [And]  Nineveh  was  an  exceeding  great  city  [a  great  city  to  God]  of  three 

4  days'  journey.  And  Jonah  began  to  enter  into  the  city  a  day's  journey  [a  journey 
of  one  day],  and  he  cried  [proclaimed],  and  said,  Yet  forty  days,  and  Nineveh  shall 

6  be  overthrown.  So  [And]  the  people  of  Nineveh  believed  God,  and  proclaimed 
a  fast,  and  put  on  sackcloth,  from  the  greatest  of  them  even  to  the  least  of  them. 

6  For  [And]  word  came  [had  come]  unto  [to]  the  king  of  Nineveh,  and  he  arose  from 
his  throne,  and  he  [omit  he]  laid  his  robe  from  him  [put  off  his  robe  from  him],  and 

7  covered  him  [himself]  with  sack  cloth,  and  sat  in  ashes.  And  he  caused  it  to  be  pro- 
claimed and  published  [and  said]  through  Nineveh  by  the  decree  of  the  king  and  his 
nobles,  saying,  Let  neither  man  nor   beast,   herd  nor  flock,  taste  any   thing :  let 

8  them  not  feed,  nor  drink  water :  But  [And]  let  man  and  beast  be  covered  with 
sackcloth,  and  cry  mightily  unto  God :  yea  [and]  let  them  turn  every  one  from  his 

9  evil  way,  and  from  the  violence  that  is  in  their  hands.  Who  can  tell 8  [knoweth]  if 
[but  that]  [the]  God  will  turn  and  repent,  and  turn  away  from  his  fierce  anger 

]  0  [glow  of  anger],  that  we  perish  not  ?  And  [the]  God  saw  their  works,  that  they 
turned  from  their  evil  way  ;  and  God  repented  of  the  evil  that  [which]  he  had  said 
that  he  would  do  unto  them ;  and  he  did  it  not. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  2.—  nS^n,  that  which  is  proclaimed,  proclamation ;  to  icjjpvyfAa,  (LXX.);  pradicatio  (Vulgate) 
[i  Ver.  7.—  E37t2  —  Ql?t3   Dan.  iii.  10,  29,  a  technical  term  for  the  edicts  of  the  Assyrian  and  Babvlonian  kings. 
[8  Ver.  9.  —  3ni,|"',n,  who  is  knowing  ?_C.  E.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ver.  1-9.  The  preaching  of  Repentance  by  Jonah 
in  Nineveh  and  its  Result. 

Ver.  1,  2.  God  sends  the  prophet,  _  the^  second 
time,  to  make  his  proclamation  —  his  Kriah — 
against  Nineveh  ;  the  same  that  was  to  be  put  in 
his  mouth.  "O^,  part.  fut.  as  in  Is.  v.  5.  ["O^ 
signifies,  according  to  the  idiomatic  use  of  the  par- 
ticiple, about  to  tell,  and  suggests  the  idea  of  a 
proximate  futurity.  —  C.  E.] 

Ver.  3.  Jonah  is  made  wiser  by  the  chastise- 
ment which  be  experienced,  and  does  not  again 
attempt  to  evade  the  call. 

Now  Nineveh  was  a  great  city  (comp.  the 
Introduction,  p.  9)  before  God  [fur  Gott].  The 
datimis  ethicus  designates  not  an  inward  peculiar 
relation   of  Nineveh  to  God,   as   in   the  passage 


(Actsvii.  20)  quoted  by  Hitzig;  but  it  corresponds 
to  the  phrase  "  before  God,"  which  is  applied  to 
Nimrod,  the  founder  of  the  city  (Gen.  x.  9),  and 
denotes  here  the  world-position  of  the  city,  there 
of  the  person.  Men  may  appear  great  to  their 
people;  cities  to  their  possessors,  or  spectators, 
and  still  not  occupy  a   world-position.  (Deut.  i. 

28).  C"  ^ribsb  nbi-13  "TO,  a  city  great  to 
God.  This  phrase  has  been  variously  explained. 
Some,  with  Kimchi,  deem  it  merely  a  superlative 

form  ;  Gesenius  construes  the  7  instrumentally, 
great  through  God,  i.  e.,  through  his  favor.  Others 
consider  it  to  be  equivalent  to  D^rwS  \?5v  be- 
fore God,  Gen.  x.  9.  Thus  the  Targum  ^  Dl^. 
Of  this  last  interpretation  I  approve,  as  it  was 
most  natural  to  refer  the  size  of  a  city,  of  m hicb 


CHAPTER   III. 


the  Hebrews  could  form  no  adequate  conception, 
to  the  Divine  estimation.  I  have  accordingly  ren- 
dered the  words  literally,  as  our  preposition  to  is 
often  used  to  note  opinion,  or  estimate."  Hender- 
son On  Jonah. 

"  But  Nineveh  was  a  great  city  to  God  (le'lohim), 
i.  e.,  it  was  regarded  by  God  as  a  great  city.  This 
remark  points  to  the  motive  for  sparing  it  (cf.  ch. 
iv.  11;  in  case  its  inhabitants  hearkened  to  the 
word  of  God."     Keil  and  Delitzsch. 

"  Niru-eeh  teas  an  exceeding  great  city  ;  lit.  great 
to  God,  i.  e.,  that  would  not  only  appear  great  to 
man  who  admires  things  of  no  account,  but  what, 
being  really  great,  is  so  in  the  judgment  of  God 
who  cannot  be  deceived.  God  did  account  it 
great,  who  says  to  Jonah,  Should  not  I  spare 
Nineveh  that  great  city,  which  hath  more  than  six 
score  thousand  that  cannot  discern  between  their  right 
and  their  left?  It  is  a  different  idiom  from  that, 
when  Scripture  speaks  of  the  mountains  of  God,  the 
cedars  of  God.  For  of  these  it  speaks,  as  having 
their  firmness  or  their  beauty  from  God,  as  their 
Author."     Pusey. 

"  The  phrase  '  an  exceeding  great  city,'  stands  in 
the  Hebrew, '  a  city  great  to  God,'  i.  e.,  great  before 
Him,  —  great  as  to  Him,  in  his  estimation.  The 
Hebrews  were  accustomed  to  express  their  highest 
ideas  of  the  superlative  degree  by  using  the  name 
of  God,  t.  g.,  '  mountains  of  God,'  etc.  The  sense 
of  this  passage  may  be  somewhat  more  specific, 
representing  the  city  as  great  in  its  relations  to 
God,  and  not  merely  as  very  great  apart  from 
these  relations."     Cowles. 

See  Lauge  on  Gen.  x.  9 ;  also  the  note  by  T.  L. 
—  C.B.] 

Three  days'  journey  —  accusative  of  measure, 
as  in  Gen.  xiv.  4. 

Since  (comp.  on  i.  2)  the  direct  diameter  of  the 
city  was  only  a  day's  journey,  then  the  circum- 
ference is  either  designated  by  "?]!?£!£?  (tflis  sig- 
nification of  ^T^lIPi  though  consistent  with  the 
statement  that  the  circumference  of  the  city  was 
four  hundred  and  eighty  stadia  in  extent,  cannot 
be  maintained),  or  the  way  (comp.  Ez.  xlii.  4), 
which  united  together  the  market-places  of  the 
different  individual  cities  forming  the  great  aggre- 
gate [complexes] ,  and  which  it  was,  therefore, 
necessary  io  travel   over,  in  order  to  go  entirely 

through  th'2  city.  Ver.  4,  in  which  "JJ7nZ2  desig- 
nates the  way  which  Jonah  travelled  over,  during 
the  first  day  ("TiTS  Ci>,  Ges.  sec.  120,  4),  points 
to  the  latter  supposition.  So  certain  is  he  of  his 
message,  avid  so  impressed  with  the  urgency  of  his 
mission,  that  he  immediately  begins  to  enter  into 
the  city,  before  obtaining  a  survey  of  it,  and  com- 
mences to  preach  on  the  first  day's  journey.  His 
sermon  is  short,  but  powerful  :  Yet  forty  days 
and  Nineveh  shafi  be  overthrown.  Forty  days 
are  here  a  lound  number,  meaning  after  a  short 
time,  whose  term  fonah  measures  by  the  period  of 
the  deluge.  Th'J  LXX.  translate  it  by  a  still 
more  rigid  formula,  —  Yet  three  days.  This 
shortening  of  the  time,  however,  would  not  har- 
monize with  the  facts  of  the  case,  since  no  time 
would  have  been  left  to  the  Ninevites  for  repent- 
ance,1 for  Jonah  required  three  days  to  go  tl  rough 
the  city.  The  word  employed  to  denote  the  de- 
itruction   is   the   old   prophetical    technical   term 

i  For  the  Heb.  Text  are  Aqu.,  Syuun  ,  Theodot.,  Syr.; 
ills:,   HieroD.,   Theodoret,  Aug.     Lange,  Bibelwerk   O.  T., 


"n^n,  evertere  (Is.  i.  7  ;  xiii.  19),  which  every- 
where points  back  to  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrha.  (Original  passage,  Gen.  xix.  25.) 
[Ver.  4.  "  Its  greatness  amounted  to  a  '  three 
days'  walk.'  This  is  usually  supposed  to  refer  to 
the  circumference  of  the  city,  by  which  the  size  of 
a  city  is  generally  determined.  But  the  statement 
in  ver.  4,  that  Jonah  began  to  enter  into  the  city 
the  walk  of  a  day.  i.  e.,  a  day's  jou  rne.\ ,  is  appar- 
ently at  variance  with  this.  Hence  ilitzig  has 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  diameter  of  the 
city  is  intended,  and  that,  as  the  walk  of  a  day  in 
ver.  4  evidently  points  to  the  walk  of  three  days 
in  ver.  3,  the  latter  must  also  be  understood  as  re- 
ferring to  the  length  of  Nineveh.  But  according 
to  Diod.  ii.  3  the  length  of  the  city  was  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  stadia,  and  Herod,  (v.  53)  gives  just 
this  number  of  stadia,  as  a  day's  journey.  Hence 
Jonah  wotdd  not  have  commenced  his  preaching 
till  he  had  reached  the  opposite  end  of  the  city. 
This  line  of  argument,  the  intention  of  which  is 
to  prove  the  absurdity  of  the  narrative,  is  based 
upon  the  perfectly  arbitrary  assumption  that  Jonah 
went  through  the  entire  length  of  the  city  in  a 
straight  line,  which   is  neither  probable  in  itself, 

nor  implied  in  ""l^ll  S12.  This  simply  means 
to  enter,  or  go  into  the  city,  and  says  nothing 
about  the  direction  of  the  course  he  took  within 
the  city.  But  in  a  city,  the  diameter  of  which 
was  one  hundred  and  fifty  stadia,  and  the  circum- 
ference four  hundred  and  eighty  stadia,  one  might 
easily  walk  for  a  whole  day  without  reaching  the 
other  end,  by  winding  about  from  one  street  info 
another.  And  Jonah  would  have  to  do  this  to 
find  a  suitable  place  for  his  preaching,  since  we 
are  not  warranted  in  assuming  that  it  lay  exactly 
in  the  geographical  centre,  or  at  the  end  of  the 
street  which  led  from  the  gate  into  the  city.  But 
if  Jonah  wandered  about  in  different  directions, 
as  Theodoret  says,  '  not  going  through  the  city, 
but  strolling  through  market-places,  streets,'  etc., 
the  distance  of  a  day's  journey  over  which  he 
travelled  must  not  be  understood  as  relating  to  th" 
diameter  or  length  of  the  city  ;  so  that  the  objec- 
tion to  the  general  opinion,  that  the  three  days' 
journey  given  as  the  size  of  the  city  refers  to  the 
circumference,  entirely  falls  to  the  ground.     More 

over,  Hitzig  has  quite  overlooked  the  word  ^OsT 
in  his  argument.  The  text  does  not  affirm  that 
Jonah  went  a  day's  journey  into  the  city,  but  that 
he  '  began  to  go  into  the  city  a  day's  journey,  and 
cried  out.'  These  words  do  not  affirm  that  he  did 
not  begin  to  preach  till  after  he  had  gone  a  whole 
day's  journey,  but  simply  that  he  had  commenced 
his  day's  journey  in  the  city  when  he  found  a  suit- 
able place  and  a  fitting  opportunity  for  his  proc- 
lamation. They  leave  the  distance  that  he  had 
really  gone,  when  he  began  his  preaching,  quite 
indefinite ;  and  by  no  means  necessitate  the  as- 
sumption that  he  had  only  begun  to  preach  in  the 
evening,  after  his  day's  journey  was  ended.  All 
that  they  distinctly  affirm  is,  that  he  did  not  preach 
directly  he  entered  the  city,  but  only  after  he  had 
commenced  a  day's  journey,  that  is  to  say,  had 
gone  some  distance  into  the  city.  And  this  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  all  that  we  know  about  the 
size  of  Nineveh  at  that  time.  The  circumference 
of  the  great  city  Nineveh,  or  the  length  of  the 
boundaries  of  the  city  of  Nineveh  in  the  broadest 
sense,  was,  as  Niebuhr  says  (p.  277),  'nearly 
ninety  English  miles,  not  reckoning  the  smallei 
vindings  of  the  boundary;  and  this  would  be juS 


32 


JONAH. 


three  day's  travelling  for  a  good  walker  on  a  long 
journey.'  'Jonah,'  he  continues,  begins  to  go  a 
day's  journey  into  the  city,  then  preaches,  and  the 
preaching  reaches  the  ears  of  the  king  (cf.  ver.  6). 
He  therefore  came  very  near  to  the  citadel  as  he 
went  along  on  his  first  day's  journey.  At  that 
time  the  citadel  was  probably  in  Nimrod  (Calah). 
Jonah,  who  would  hardly  have  travelled  through 
the  desert,  went  by  what  is  now  the  ordinary 
caravan  road  past  Amida,  and  therefore  entered 
the  city  at  Nineveh.  And  it  was  on  the  road  from 
Nineveh  to  Calah,  not  far  off  the  city,  possibly  in 
the  city  itself,  that  he  preached.  Now  the  distance 
between  Calah  and  Nineveh  (not  reckoning  either 
city),  measured  in  a  straight  line  upon  the  map,  is 
eighteen  and  a  half  English  miles.'  If,  then,  we 
add  to  this,  (1)  that  the  road  from  Nineveh  to 
Calah  or  Nimrod  hardly  ran  in  a  perfectly  straight 
line,  and  therefore  would  be  really  longer  than  the 
exact  distance  between  the  two  parts  of  the  city 
according  to  the  map,  and  (2)  that  Jonah  had  first 
of  all  to  go  through  Nineveh,  and  possibly  into 
Calah,  he  may  very  well  have  walked  twenty  Eng- 
lish miles,  or  a  short  day's  journey,  before  he 
preached.  The  main  point  of  his  preaching  is  all 
that  is  given,  namely,  the  threat  that  Nineveh 
should  be  destroyed,  which  was  the  point  of  chief 
importance,  so  far  as  the  object  of  the  book  was 
concerned,  and  which  Jonah  of  course  explained 
by  denouncing  the  sins  and  vices  of  the  city." 
Keil  and  Delitzsch.  —  C.  E.] 

Ver.  5.  Then  the  men  of  Nineveh  believed 
God.  That  the  Babylonians  had  a  great  respect 
for  divination,  so  that  what  is  here  related  does 
not  appear  strange  (Keil),  may  appear  apologet- 
ically an  important  observation  ;  but  this  was 
Erobably  not  in  the  mind  of  the  writer:  it  was 
is  intention  to  relate  something  extraordinary. 
Moreover,  he  would  not  have  employed  the  ex- 
pression "believe,"  but  the  more  common  "inD, 
fear,  or  a  similar  word.  (See  moreover  below  at 
ver.  8.)  The  word  believe  here,  as  often  elsewhere, 
is  used  with  special  reference  to  the  appropriation 
of  prophetical  instruction  to  the  soul's  inner  life 
(Is.  vii.  9  ;  Hab.  ii.  4),  without  however  excluding 
the  element  of  justification,  when  confidence  is  ex- 
ercised in  the  mercy  of  God.  Its  fruits,  ver.  5  ft'., 
are  those  which  are  required  from  preaching,  re- 
pentance, and  conversion  (Joel  ii.  15  ff.).  And 
this  repentance  was  indeed  a  general   one,  a  re- 

Eentance  of  the  people,  as  it  was  carried  out  by 
ringing  over  to  it  all  the  inhabitants,  the  king,  and 
even  the  beasts.  Ver.  6  ff.  is  only  a  fuller  recital  of 
the  brief  historical  statement  in  ver.  5,  and  should, 
according  to  the  context,  be  rendered  in  the  plu- 
perfect :  For  the  matter  had  come  to  the  King 
of  Nineveh,  etc.,  to  ver.  9.  Our  author  is  fond 
of  such  pluperfect  adjuncts  (i.  5-10).  Following 
the  natural,  epic  character  of  the  narrative,  we 
have  retained  the  aorist  in  the  translation.  The 
king  rises  from  his  throne  (comp.  2  Sam.  xiii.  31), 
and  lays  aside  his  royal  robe  (comp.  Josh.  vii.  21), 
puts  on  a  mourning-dress  and  sits  in  ashes —  all  a 
sign  of  sorrow  and  repentance  (Ez.  xxvi.  16). 
The  verbs  in  ver.  7  ff.  have  the  indefinite  sub- 

t'ect  "  one  "  :  one  proclaimed  and  said  in  Nineveh 
>y  the  command  of  the  king  and  his  nobles  also, 
etc.     The  royal  heralds  are  meant,  to  whom  the 

ixecution  of  the  ES'tS  (a  north-Semitic  word  = 

TTTin,  comp.  Dan.  iii.  29  f. )  was  committed. 
That  the  beasts  were  included  in  the  public  humil 
■Ation  is   nothing   unusual   in    the    East.     When 


Masistios  fell  at  Plataja,  the  Persians,  in  honoi 
of  him,  sheared  the  hair  from  their  horses.  (Herod. 
ix.  24.  Comp.  Brissonius,  be  Regni  Persarum 
Principiis.  ii.  c.  206  )  Horses  hung  with  black- 
were,  in  the  time  of  Chrysostom,  frequently  seen 
at  funeral  processions,  and  they  are  frequently 
to  be  seen  at  the  present  day.  The  custom  has  its 
foundation  in  the  lively  feeling  of  the  mutual 
adaptation  of  man  and  nature.  (Comp.  Joel  i. 
18,  and  the  description  of  the  great  grief  in  the 
fifth  Eclogue  of  Virgil  [also  JEneid,  xi.  89,  c.  e.].) 
Besides  it  is  especially  mentioned  here  as  a  reason, 
just  as  "  great  and  small  "  ver.  5,  that  not  merely 
repentance  of  sin,  but  also  compassion  toward 
guiltless  creatures  should  move  God  to  spare  them 
(iv.  11).  But  it  is  not  required  to  press  to  the 
utmost  the  separate  applications  of  the  royal  edict, 
in  the  interest  of  the  fides  historica,  otherwise  we 
would  be  obliged  to  infer  from  ver.  8  that  the  cat- 
tle were  clothed  in  mourning  and  that  their  low- 
ing was  taken  for  prayer,  which  was  certainly  not 
so.  The  strength  of  the  expressions  paints  the 
depth  of  the  repentance,  and  ver.  8  b  shows  the 
reason  of  their  use  by  the  king  and  by  the  narra- 
tor, who  reproduces  the  edict :  and  let  them  turn 
every  one  from  his  evil  way  (Ez.  xviii.  23),  etc., 
that  we  perish  not  (comp.  i.  6).  It  is  too  strongly 
asserted  that  this  result  of  Jonah's  denunciation  of 
doom  is  psychologically  incomprehensible  in  itself 
( Hitzig),  because  he  spoke  as  a  foreigner  to  a  foreign 
people  in  a  foreign  language.  But  the  esteem  of 
antiquity  for  the  oracles  of  the  gods  [Gotterstim- 
men]  is  known  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  limits  of 
national  worship  were  thereby  left  undetermined, 
in  proof  of  which  we  cite  the  well-known  fact  that 
Crcesus  consulted  the  Grecian  oracles  (comp. 
Ezr.  i.  1  ff.  ;  Gen.  xli;  Numb,  xxii ;  Luke  vii). 
And  the  more  threatening  these  oracles  were,  the 
more  certain  were  they  to  obtain  belief,  as  is  natu- 
ral, since  the  threatenings  of  divine  punishment 
have  a  powerful  ally  in  the  conscience  of  man.  If 
one  reflects  on  the  excitement,  which  ruled  the 
souls  of  men  about  the  yrear  1000  a.  d.  ;  on  the 
results  which  the  discourses  of  a  Peter  of  Amiens, 
Capistrano,  and  others  of  their  time  had,  though 
delivered  in  a  language  not  understood  ;  and  con- 
siders that  awe  in  which  holy  men  were  held  by 
antiquity,  of  which  even  profane  writers  afford 
frequent  examples,  then  the  psychological  difficulty 
vanishes,  and  there  is  no  need  of  bringing  the 
affinity  of  the  Hebrew  and  Assyrian  languages  to 
our  help,  in  order  to  find  the  resul  t  possible.  It 
is  injudicious  to  remove,  in  the  interests  of  apolo- 
getics, everything  miraculous  from  the  narrative  ; 
but  it  is  equally  so  to  push,  in  the  interest  of  po- 
lemics, the  miraculous  to  silliness.  Another  psycho- 
logical motive  to  repentance  on  the  part  of  the 
Ninevites  our  Lord  indicates,  Luke  xi.  30,  when 
by  the  expression  o-rj^eio^  roh  Ntvevirats,  he  un- 
doubtedly brings  to  light  that  the  account  of  the 
wonderful  events  of  his  life  formed  an  essential 
part  of  Jonah's  sermon  on  repentance.  (Comp. 
Luke  xi.  32,  and  the  Ob.  of  Luther  on  ver.  4  be 
low.) 

With  reference  to  D>n7S!~r,  vers.  9, 10  (comp. 
i.  6)  Burck  remarks  :  "  Non  hie  adkibetur  nomen 
Jehovah,  quia  de  populo  gentili  sermo  est,  Jehoi(» 
coynitio  sublimior,  quam  Dei." 

Ver.  11.  The  Compassion.  As  faith  expects,  so 
it  conies  to  pass.  (Comp.  Ex.  xxxii.  12, 14.)  God 
locked  upon  the  Ninevites :  He  turned  his  coun- 
tenance, with  kind  thoughts,  toward  them.  (Comp 
ver.  it.  1,  6.) 


CHAPTER  III. 


33 


["  But  however  deep  the  penitential  mourning 
of  Nineveh  might  be,  and  however  sincere  the  re- 
pentance of  the  people,  when  they  acted  according 
to  the  king's  command ;  the  repentance  was  not  a 
lasting  one,  or  permanent  in  its  effects.  Nor  did  it 
evince  a  thorough  conversion  to  God,  but  was 
merely  *  powerful  incitement  to  conversion,  a 
waking  up  out  of  the  careless  security  of  their 
life  of  sin,  an  endeavor  to  forsake  their  evil  ways 
which  did  not  last  very  long.  The  statement  in 
ver.  10,  that  "  God  saw  their  doing,  that  they 
turned  from  their  evil  ways ;  and  He  repented  of* 
the  evil  that  He  had  said  that  He  would  do  to 
them,  and  did  it  not"  (cf.  Ex.  xxxii.  14),  can  be 
reconciled  with  this  without  difficulty.  The  re- 
pentance of  the  Ninevites,  even  if  it  did  not  last, 
showed,  at  any  rate,  a  susceptibility  on  the  part  of 
the  heathen  for  the  word  of  God,  and  their  will- 
ingness to  turn  and  forsake  their  evil  and  ungodly 
ways ;  so  that  God,  according  to  his  compassion, 
could  extend  his  grace  to  them  in  consequence. 
God  always  acts  in  this  way.  He  not  only  for- 
gives the  converted  man,  who  lays  aside  his  sin, 
and  walks  in  newness  of  life  ;  but  He  has  mercy 
also  upon  the  penitent  who  confesses  and  mourns 
over  his  sin,  and  is  willing  to  amend.  The  Lord 
also  directed  Jonah  to  preach  repentance  to  Nin- 
eveh ;  not  that  this  capital  of  the  heathen  world 
might  be  converted  at  once  to  faith  in  the  living 
God,  and  its  inhabitants  be  received  into  the  cov- 
enant of  grace  which  He  had  made  with  Israel, 
but  simply  to  give  his  people  Israel  a  practical 
proof  that  He  was  the  God  of  the  heathen  also, 
and  could  prepare  for  Himself  even  among  them 
a  people  of  his  possession.     (Keil  and  Delitzsch.) 

Dr.  Pusey  expresses  himself  unwarrantably, 
when  he  says  :  "  But,  what  Scripture  chiefly  dwells 
npon,  their  repentance  was  not  only  in  profession, 
in  belief,  in  outward  act,  but  in  the  fruit  of  gen- 
uine works  of  repentance,  a  changed  life  out  of  a 

changed  heart Their  whole  way  and  course 

of  life  was  evil ;  they  broke  off,  not  the  one  or 
other  sin  only,  but  all,  their  whole  evil  way.  Dr. 
P.  has  inserted  the  adjective  "  whole  "  before  "  evil 
way."  It  is  not  used  by  the  sacred  writer.  The 
repentance  of  the  Ninevites  was  —  though  in  some 
instances,  it  may  have  been  more  —  a  public  con- 
fession and  humiliation  ordered  by  the"  king  and 
his  nobles." —  C.  E.]. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL.  1 

See  Introduction,  p.  5  ff. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  repentance  of  the  Ninevites,  a  model  of  a 
genuine  national  repentance. 

1.  It  hears  God's  proclamation  and  asks  not 
why?  vers.  1-4. 

2.  It  springs  from  faith  and  is  accompanied  by 
faith  1  vers.  5,  9. 

3.  It  bows  itself  under  the  curse  of  the  common 
guilt,  and  not  a  single  person  asks :  how  much 
have  I  deserved  ?  ver.  6.  ff. 

4.  It  is  united  with  the  purpose  of  amendment. 
On  ver.  1 .  The  Lord  does  not  withdraw  his  calls. 

(Comp.  John  xxi.  16.)  It  is  a  great  and  enduring 
grace  to  be  called  by  Him.  Ver.  2.  No  one  should 
undertake,  of  his  own  absolute  power,  to  threaten 
others  with  the  Divine  wrath  and  punishment. 
Preachers,  who  speak  from  their  own  mind,  have 
1  [JUiihsgedanken,  see  not*,  p.  20.  —  C.  E.]. 


no  right  to  do  so.  Therefore,  consider  well  and 
pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  entirely  humble  thy- 
self, and  forget  thyself,  if  thou  hast  in  mind  to,  ot 
must  perform  such  a  duty. 

Ver.  3.  Whoever  feels  that  he  is  sent  of  God 
should  not  be  afraid  of  the  greatest  city.  As 
many  as  the  Lord  intends  shall  hear  Him,  will 
hear  Him.  —  Ver.  4.  Speak  promptly  and  delay 
not.  In  God's  kingdom  every  moment  is  precious. 
The  time,  when  He  puts  his  word  in  thy  mouth, 
is  the  right  time  ;  not  that  which  thou  fanciest  for 
thyself. — Ver.  5.  Because  the  Ninevites  believed, 
they  repented.  Repentance  comes  not  from  the  law 
alone ;  but  from  the  law  and  faith.  Prom  the  law 
alone  comes  death.  Children  are  not  innocent.  — 
Ver.  6.  It  becomes  a  king,  who  takes  precedence 
in  everything,  to  take  the  lead  also  in  repentance. 
(Ps.  li.)  In  repentance  and  especially  before 
God,  all  are  on  a  level ;  purple  is  of  no  avail,  but 
only  a  broken  heart.  Magistracy  is  of  God's  ap- 
pointment ;  but  those  who  possess  it  are  neverthe- 
less sinners.  —  Ver.  7.  It  is  a  good  work  and  be- 
longs to  the  office  of  the  magistrate  to  foster  true 
piety.  The  state  has  not  merely  the  negative  duty 
of  providing  that  those  who  observe  their  religious 
festivals  [Feiertage]  be  not  disturbed,  but  also  a 
positive  duty.  There  is  no  state  conceivable  with- 
out having  duties  to  discharge  to  religion  and  the 
church.  The  kingdom  of  God  can  subsist  without 
it,  but  not  the  reverse.  To  repentance  belongs 
necessarily  the  purpose  of  amendment.  —  Ver.  9. 
The  heathen  do  not  despair  of  God's  mercy, 
though  they  do  not  yet  know  Christ.  It  is  worse 
than  heathenish  to  doubt  that  God  is  gracious  and 
ready  to  forgive.  —  Ver.  10.  The  repentance  of 
God  is  included  in  his  gracious  decree.  It  is  the 
harmonizing  of  [die  Auseinandersetzung  zwischen, 
lit.,  the  settlement  between]  wrath  and  forgiveness, 
justice  and  love.  Wrath  is  not  the  final  end; 
but  it  has  for  its  end  and  object,  love.  Law  with- 
out the  Gospel  would  be  an  ungodly  thing:  the 
Old  Testament  cannot  subsist  without  the  New. 
Woe  to  him  who  makes  light  of  the  wrath  of 
God :  he  can  never  taste  of  love. 

Luther  :  Ver.  1.  It  is  therefore  written  that 
we  may  bear  in  mind,  that  nothing  is  to  be  under- 
taken without  God's  word  and  command.  For 
the  first  command  of  God  having  been  violated  by 
disobedience,  had  not  God  renewed  it,  Jonah 
would  not  have  known,  whether  be  should  do  it, 
or  not.  (Comp.  Num.  xiv.  1  ff". ;  Deut.  i.  41  f.) 
The  Israelites  at  first  would  not  fight  at  God's  com 
mand;  afterward  they  wished  to  do  so  of  their 
own  accord  and  were  beaten.  (1  Pet.  iv.  11.)  — 
Ver.  2.  Nineveh,  the  city  of  God.  God  cares  also 
for  the  heathen.  (2  Kings  v.  1 ;  Jer.  xxv.  9.)  — 
Ver.  4.  He  doubtless  did  not  confine  himself  in 
preaching  to  these  words ;  his  proclamation  is 
briefly  reported.  —  Ver.  5.  They  do  some  things, 
which  God  does  not  command.  Therefore  He, 
afterward,  ver.  10,  does  not  commend  their  fasting 
and  sackcloth,  but  that  they  turned  from  their 
evil  way.  God  saw  their  earnestness ;  therefore 
He  permitted  the  foolish  things  —  that  the  animals 
should  fast,  etc.,  —  to  be  acceptable  to  Him,  which 
He  would  not  have  beheld  with  favor,  had  the 
earnestness  been  wanting.  Free  will,  or  our  own 
power,  does  not  produce  such  earnestness ;  but 
faith  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  —  Ver.  9. 
The  king  speaks  as  if  he  doubts.  But  he  doubts 
not ;  for  doubt  does  not  call  upon  God  and  em- 
ploy such  earnestness.  A  truly  penitent  heart 
stands  with  fear  in  the  contest,  and  fights  against 
despair ;  but  as  it  has  not  yet  won,  it  speaks  as  if 


M 


JONAH. 


it  were  uncertain.  If  there  were  no  faith,  it  would 
not  hold  out  anndst  such  toil  and  trouble.  There- 
fore, words  are  rather  a  sign  that  faith  is  there. 
—  Ver.  10.  Here  the  works  are  commended ;  what 
shall  we  say  against  it?  Here  the  legalists  have 
:he  advantage,  yes,  a  fine  advantage!  Look  at 
the  text.  It  says,  God  saw  their  works,  that  is, 
they  pleased  Him.  But  what  kind  of  works  were 
they  ?  The  text  shows :  They  turned  from  their 
evil  way.  Such  works  do  and  teach,  then  we  will 
not  refuse  to  thee  the  praise  of  works;  but  we  will 
help  thee  to  extol  them.  To  turn  from  one's  evil 
way  is  not  a  trifling  work  ;  it  includes,  not  fasting 
and  sackcloth,  but  faith  in  God  from  the  heart, 
and  the  loving  of  our  neighbor  as  ourselves  ;  that 
is,  it  requires  the  whole  man  to  be  pious  and  just 
in  both  body  and  soul.  For  God  requires  the 
whole  man,  and  dislikes  half-converts  and  hypo- 
crites. 

Starke:  Ver.  1.  God's  purpose  and  command 
must  succeed  and  be  accomplished  ;  for  it  cannot 
be  hindered  or  frustrated  by  any  human  designs. 
God  by  means  of  the  ministry  saves  sinners  by 
sinners.  —  Ver.  2.  God  even  during  the  time  of  the 
Old  Covenant,  sought  the  salvation  of  the  heathen. 

—  Ver.  3.  Nineveh,  a  great  city  to  the  Lord, 
should  surely  have  been  devoted  to  God :  God  had 
wrought  for  it  (iv.  10).  nadr)fj.a.Ta,  nad-fifxara, 
nocumetita,  documenta,  poor  in  spirit,  rich  in  faith 
(armselig  macht  gottselig,  Is.  xxviii.  19).  God  can 
well  tolerate  great  cities,  if  they  only  give  place  to 
Him  and  his  word.  —  Ver.  4.  Since  God  has  still 
his  own  everywhere,  these  most  likely  were  the 
first  to  have  been  awakened,  and  to  have  served 
as  coadjutors  in  the  preaching  of  repentance. — 
Ver.  5.  Credidit  Ninive  et  Israel  incredulus  per- 
severat ;  credidit  praputium,  et  circumcisioperma.net 
injidelis.  Where  the  Word  of  God  is  preached 
sincerely  and  purely,  there  it  brings  fruit  in  its 
season,  if  not  in  all,  at  least  in  some.  (1  Thess.  ii. 
13.)  Jonah  did  in  his  mission,  as  did  the  Apos- 
tles.    Wherever  thev  came,  they  did  not  seek  first 

Fermission  fVciu  the  magistrate;  but  they  rested 
their  aucnority]    upon   the   command   of  Christ. 

—  Ver.  7.  It  is  well  for  the  masses  of  a  commu- 
nity, when  pious  magistrates  have  also  pious  ser- 
vants around  them.  It  is  a  strong  proof  of  sin- 
cere repentance  for  sins  committed  to  remove 
every  occasion  to  lust  out  of  the  way.  —  Ver.  8. 
One  must  prove  his  repentance  by  external  acts. 
It  is  a  peculiar  instance  of  Divine  justice  that 
God  suffered  Israel  to  be  destroyed  by  the 
same  people,  who  repented  at  the  voice  of  his 
prophet,  while  on  the  contrary,  the  Israelites  had 
despised  all  the  prophets  from  Samuel  down. 
God's  decree  has  always  a  fundamental  reference 
to  conversion  [hat  die  Ordnung  der  Bekthrung  im- 
tner  zum  Grunae]. 

Pfaff  :  God  does  not  change  his  commands. 
He  repeats  his  calling  grace.  He  calls  the  sinner 
twice,  thrice,  yea,  even  to  the  end.  —  Ver.  4 :  A 
preacher  must  speak  the  truth  frankly  [deutsch], 
and  not  sugar  it  over  and  deprive  it  of  its  power 
by  ornaments  and  flattery.  One  must  plainly  say 
to  sinners  that   they  are  hastening  to  destruction. 

—  Ver.  7.  Here  we  find  established  the  right  of 
the  magistrate  in  spiritual  things;  especially  in 
regard  to  the  externals  of  Divine  worship  and  its 
rijiht  ordering.  —  Vers.  9,  10.     It  is  certain   that 

bestows  his  grace  upon  the  penitent. 
QUANDT  :  Ver.  1.   With  God  nothing  is  impos- 
sible,     truly,    the  heart  must   suffer   itself  to   be 
broken,  otherwise  even  God  cannot  break  it  by  his 
Almighty  power       The  same  word  of  God   which 


was  n  jected  and  despised  by  us  in  former  times,  if 
received  by  us  with  devotion,  when  it  comes  to  as 
the  second  time  and  we  in  the  meantime  have 
become  different  persons.  Many  individuals  and 
families  want  nothing  but  the  cross  to  bring  them 
back.  —  Ver.  3.  Alas !  Jonah  has  more  followers 
in  the  way  of  flight  than  in  the  way  of  obedience. 
—  Ver.  4.  Three  ways  may  be  pursued  on  receiv- 
ing such  a  terrible  message  —  despair,  frivolous 
mockery,  repentance  and  conversion.  The  Nine- 
vites  chose  the  third.  —  Ver.  9.  Faith  disappoints 
nobody.  —  Ver.  10.  That  Nineveh  was  converted 
was  a  wonder.  With  us,  it  is  a  wonder,  if  we  are 
not  converted. 

Marck  :  Ver.  1.  God  is  so  good  and  s^  indul- 
gent to  the  weaknesses  of  his  servants,  that  even 
after  repeated  proofs  of  his  grace,  He  makes 
known  his  will  to  them,  not  once,  but  oftener,  in 
order  that  they  may  have  no  pretext  of  ignorance, 
but  may  know  the  true  object  of  their  redemption, 
namely,  to  obey  the  commands  of  their  Redeemer 
and  to  manifest  his  glory. 

Bukck  :  God  does  not  utterly  reject  him,  who 
has  failed  once ;  but  He  rather  gives  him  a  new 
opportunity  of  correcting  former  faults. 

Rieger  :  To  him,  who  comes  out  of  trouble, 
danger,  and  sickness,  God  commonly  permits  an 
opportunity  soon  to  occur,  when  he  can  pay  his 
vows. 

Schlier  :  In  renewing  the  command,  God  says 
not  a  word  about  the  guilt  of  Jonah;  for  Jonah  is 
humbled.  In  the  miracle  of  his  deliverance  he 
has  learned  what  obedience  is,  although  he  does 
not  yet  know  what  Divine  compassion  toward  the 
perishing  heathen  is. 

Burck  :  Ver.  4.  Preaching  is  usually  effica- 
cious, from  the  very  first,  among  those  who  do  not 
receive  the  Word  in  vain.  There  is  very  little 
hope  of  those,  who  have  heard  the  Word  of  God 
proclaimed  by  the  same  messenger,  not  merely 
many  days,  but  years,  without  becoming  better, 
even  if  they  should  have  the  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing the  same  preaching  a  thousand  years. 

Marck  :  Ver.  5.  There  is  not  only  a  very  close 
connection  between  evil,  guilt,  and  punishment,  so 
that  they  are  commonly  mutually  dependent,  but 
also  the  good  is  connected  by  intimate  bonds,  since 
from  one  virtue  of  one  man  other  virtues  of  others 
flow,  and  the  Divine  blessing  follows  virtue.  This 
is  illustrated  by  the  obedience  of  Jonah,  with 
which  the  repentance  of  the  Ninevites  and  the  Di- 
vine compassion  were  closely  connected. 

Rieger  :  The  exercises  of  repentance  are  here 
described  for  the  most  part  by  the  outward  cir- 
cumstances that  accompanied  them,  —  quite  differ- 
ent from  what  is  practiced  at  the  present  day, 
when  one  would  perform  the  several  acts  of  re- 
pentance, devotion,  and  prayer,  in  such  a  quiet 
way  as  to  be  scarcely  perceived  by  those  who  are 
nearest  about  him.  But  where  there  is  genuine 
earnestness  within,  there  the  outward  manifesta- 
tion is  not  so  readily  suppressed. 

Burck  :  Ver.  6.  There  is  a  difference  between 
a  court,  which  is  a  stranger  to  the  true  religion, 
and  one  that  is  attached  to  it  in  only  a  hypocrit 
ical  way.  The  former  is  more  easily  moved  ;  the 
latter,  in  consequence  of  God's  decree,  is  more 
hardened. 

Bochart:  Ver.  7.  This  edict,  issued  to  the 
Ninevites,  in  order  to  appease  the  anger  of  God ; 
the  edict  of  Darius  (Dan.  vi.  26  if.)  ;  that  of  Neb- 
uchadnezzar (Dan.  iii.  20),  and  others,  were  just 
so  many  preparations  for  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen,  which  followed  the  advent  of  Christ.     In 


CHAPTER   IV. 


35 


this  way  God's  goodness  and  glory  became  gradu- 
ally, and  in  a  certain  measure,  known  to  the  na- 
tions, which  were  strangers   to  Israel   ( Exodus  v. 

Schmieder  :  Ver.  8.  The  understanding  may 
call  the  penitential  acts  on  the  part  of  the  beasts 
foolish;  but  the  heart  will  seize  upon  them,  be- 
cause they  show  deep  contrition  of  heart ;  and 
this  is  certainly  the  main  point  here. 

Hieronymus  :  Ver.  10.  God  soon  changed  his 
purpose,  because  He  saw  that  their  works  were 
changed.  He  did  not  hear  words,  such  as  Israel 
was  wont  to  say :  "  All  that  God  has  said  will  we 
do"  (Ex.  xix.  8;  xxiv.  3);  but  He  saw  works. 
He  will  rather  that  the  ungodly  turn  from  their 
evil  way,  than  that  they  should  die.  (Ez.  xviii.  23, 
32). 

Talmud  :  Dear  brethren,  sackcloth  and  fasting 
avail  nothing;  but  repentance  and  good  works. 
For  it  is  not  said  of  the  Ninevites,  etc. 

Burck  :  How  far  are  God's  thoughts  removed 
from  the  thoughts  of  man,  even  from  the  thoughts 
of  men,  who  seem  unto  others  to  be  sound  in  the 
faith. 

Rieger  :  The  Lord  Jesus  bears  testimony  to 
this  repentance  of  the  people  of  Nineveh  ( Matth. 
xii.  14),  that,  in  its  good  consequences,  it  will  ex- 
tend to  the  day  of  judgment;  and  hence,  in  spar- 
ing thorn,  God  must  have  been  sincerely  and  kindly 
in  earnest.  But  because  Nineveh  fell  back  into 
its  former  sins,  it  was  overthrown  by  the  wrath  of 
Jehovah  scarcely  a  century  after  this  salutary  con- 
version .  so  also  it  befell  Jerusalem,  because  it  did 
not  acknowledge  and  receive  Him,  of  whom  Jonah 
was  a  type. 

[Calvin  :  Ver.  3.  He  went,  then,  according  to 
the  command  of  Jehovah ;  that  is,  nothing  else  did 
he  regard  but  to  render  obedience  to  God,  and  to 


suffer  himself  to  be  wholly  ruled  by  him.  We 
hence  learn  how  well  God  provides  for  us  and  for 
our  salvation,  when  he  corrects  our  perverseness  ; 
though  sharp  may  be  our  chastisements,  vet  as 
this  benefit  follows,  we  know  that  nothing  is  bet 
ter  for  us  than  to  be  humbled  under  God's  hand, 
as  David  says  in  Ps.  119.  —  Ver.  10.  God  had  re- 
spect to  their  works  —  what  works  ?  not  sackcloth, 
not  ashes,  not  fasting ;  for  Jonah  does  not  now 
mention  these;  but  he  had  respect  to  their  works, 
beeause  they  turned  from  their  evil  way. 

Fairhairn:  ''Why  should  God  have  sent  his 
prophet  to  admonish  us  of  sin,  and  foretell  his  ap- 
proaching judgment,  a  prophet,  too,  who  has  him- 
self been  the  subject  of  singular  mercy  and  for- 
bearance ?  If  destruction  alone  had  been  his 
object,  would  he  not  rather  have  allowed  us  to 
sleep  on  in  our  sinfulness?  And  why,  in  particu- 
lar, should  these  forty  days  have  been  made  to 
run  between  our  doom  and  our  punishment'? 
Surely  this  bespeaks  some  thought  of  mercy  in 
God ;  it  must  have  been  meant  to  leave  the  door 
still  open  to  us  for  forgiveness  and  peace."  So  un- 
doubtedly they  reasoned,  and,  as  the  event  proved, 
reasoned  justly. 

Pusey  :  Ver.  10.  And  he  did  it  not.  God  willed 
rather  that  his  prophecy  should  seem  to  fail,  than 
that  repentance  should  fail  of  its  fruit.  But  it 
did  not  indeed  fail,  for  the  condition  lay  expressed 
in  the  threat. 

Cowles  :  Ver.  10.  Works  meet  for  repentance 
will  infallibly  secure  the  reversal  of  threatened 
and  impending  doom.  God's  immutability  is  that 
of  principle  —  not  of  plan  and  action.  He  im- 
mutably hates  and  punishes  sin  :  hence,  when  a 
sinner  becomes  a  penitent,  God  turns  from  threat- 
ened vengeance  to  free  pardon.  —  C.  E.1 


CHAPTER  IV. 


'Jonah  repines  at  God's  Mercy  to  the  Ninevites.      God  employs  a  Palmchrist  as  a 
means  to  reprove  and  instruct  him.  —  C.  E.J 

I  2  But  [And]  it  displeased  Jonah  exceedingly,  and  he  was  very  angry.1  And  he 
prayed  unto  [to]  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  aud  said :  I  pray  thee  [Ah  !  now],  O  Lord 
[Jehovah],  ivas  not  this  my  saying,  when  [while]  I  was  yet  in  my  country  ? 
Therefore  I  fled  before  [I  anticipated  it  by  fleeing]  unto  Tarshish  :  for  I  knew  that 
thou  art  a  gracious  God,  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  of  great  kindness,  and 

3  repentest  thee  of  the  evil.  Therefore  now,  O  Lord  [And  now,  O  Jehovah]  take, 
I  beseech  thee,  my  life  from  me ;  for  it  is  better  for  me  to  die  than  to  live  [my 

4  death  is  better  than  my  life].     Then  [And]  said  the  Lord  [Jehovah  said],  Doest 

5  thou  well  to  be  angry  ?  2  So  [And]  Jonah  went  3  out  of  the  city,  and  sat  on  the  east 
side  of  the  city,  and  there  made  him  [for  himself]  a  booth,  and  sat  under  it  in  the 

6  shadow  [shade],  till  he  might  [should]  see  what  would  become  of  the  city.  And  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  God  prepared  a  gourd  [palmchrist]  and  made  it  to  come  up  over 
Jonah,  that  it  might  be  [to  be]  a  shadow  [shade]  over  his  head,  to  deliver  him  from 

7  his  grief  [distress].  So  [And]  Jonah  was  exceeding  glad  of  the  gourd.  But  God 
prepared  [appointed]  a  worm  when  the  morning  rose  [at  the  rising  of  the  dawn] 

8  the  next  day,  and  it  smote  the  gourd  [palmchrist]  [so]  that  it  withered.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  the  sun  did  arise  [at  the  rising  of  the  sun],  that  God  prepared 
[appointed]  a  vehement  [sultry]  east  wind;  and  the  sun  beat  upon  the  head  of  Jonah 


36 


JONAH. 


that  [and]  he  fainted,  aud  wished  in  himself  [asked  his  soul,  i.  e.,  asked  for  lnm 

self]  to  die,  and  said,  It  is  better  for  me  to  die  than   to  live  [my  death  is  better 

9  than  my  life].     And  God  said  to  Jonah,  Doest  thou  well  [is  it  right]  to  be  angry 

for  the  gourd  [palmchrist]  ?    And  he  said,  I  do  well  [It  is  right]  to  be  angry,  even 

10  unto  death.  Then  [And]  said  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  Thou  hast  had  pity  on  [wast 
grieved  for]  the  gourd  [palmchrist],  for  the  which  [on  which]  thou  hast  not 
labored,  neither  madest  it  [and  which  thou  hast  not  caused  to]  grow  ;  which  came4 

11  up  in  a  night  [which  was  the  sou  of  a  night],  and  perished  in  a  night:  And 
should  not  I  spare  [have  pity  upon]  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  wherein  [in  which] 
are  more  than  sixscore  thousand  persons,  that  cannot  discern  [distinguish]  be 
tween  their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand ;  and  also  [omit,  also]  much  cattle.5 

TEXTUAL  AND    GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  1.  —  *l7  *^n*l  [anSerl  was  kindled  to  him,  i.  e.,  he  was  angry.     Sometimes  this  formula  expresses  the  feeling 
of  grief,  sadness.     In  the  Hithpa.  the  verb  signifies  to  fret  one's  self,  Vs.  xxxvii.  1,  7,  8.     The  LXX.  sometimes  render  it 
by  Avire'ojuai,  iv.  4. 

[2  Ver.  4.  —  TfV   PHI"!   StS^rTrl,   Keil  and  Delitzsch  :«  Is  thine  anger  justly  kindled?"     Henderson  :«  Art  thou 

much  vexed  "  ?      UK)''  HPT   is  used  adverbially.     Compare   Deut.    ix.  21 ;  xiii.    15 ;  and  2  Kings  xi.  18.     LXX. :  Ei 
<r(>6Spa  kekvnno-ai  <ru  ;   Vulgate  :    Putasne,   bene    irasceris  tu  ? 

[3  Ver.  6.  —  The  verbs  in  this  verse  may  be  rendered  in  the  pluperfect:  "Jonah,  had  gone  had  sat  ...  .  had 

made  .  .      .  and  had  sat  under. :'     Newcome  and  Kleinert  so  render  them.     See  the  Exegetical  and  Critical  notes  on  the 
Terse. 

[3  Ver.  10.  —  "OH   nby?"}^    i~Pn     nby7*]Stt?,   literally,  which  was  the  son  of  a  night,  and  perished  the 

■on  of  a  night.      "J2,  a  son,  is  used  idiomatically  to  express  what  is  produced,  or  exists,  during  the  time  predicated  ot  it 
[6  Ver  11.  —  In  Nineveh,  and  also  in  Babylon,  there  were  probably  large  spaces  where  cattle  fed.  —  C.  E.) 


EXEGETICAL  AND    PRACTICAL. 

Jonah's  Discontent  and  Correction.  This  chapter 
does  not  form,  as  Ch.  B.  Michaelis  thinks,  two  dia- 
logues between  God  and  Jonah;  but  as  is  evident 
from  the  retrospective  reference  of  ver.  8  to  ver.  3, 
and  as  the  translation  shows,  ver.  5  f.  gives  the 
scenery  for  the  preceding  verses,  and  these  verses 
presuppose  that  Jonah  must  have  already  gone 
out  of  Nineveh,  sat  a  long  time  in  his  observatory, 
and  waited  in  vain  for  the  destruction  of  the  city. 
For  he  does  not  complain  because  the  Ninevites 
repented,  but  because  God  had  already  shown 
Himself  merciful  toward  them.  (Comp.  below  at 
ver.  3;  and  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  from  the 
idiom  and  literary  character  of  the  book,  Intro- 
duction, p.  8. 

Ver.  1.  He  was,  therefore,  already  sitting  in  the 
glowing  heat  of  the  sun,  when  the  discontent,  ver. 

1,  came  over  him.  The  verb  VJ  is  used  here  of 
the  feeling,  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  It  seemed  evil 
to  him,  which  is  usually  accompanied  in  other 
places  by  the  additional  clause,  in  his  eyes.    [Same 

as  here,  Neh.  ii.  10;  xiii.  8;  only  with  7  instead 

of  vWJ.  He  was  not  angry  because  he  had  pon- 
dered in  his  mind  the  dangers,  which  were  destined 
to  come  upon  his  country  and  people,  in  the  fu- 
ture, through  the  Assyrians,  who  had  just  been 
delivered  ( Abarbanel) ;  nor  because  he  had  seen  the 
final  doom  of  the  Jews  and  heathen  prefigured  by 
the  acceptance  of  the  repentance  of  Nineveh  con- 
trasted with  the  impenitence  of  Israel  (Micron.); 
(this  God  would  have  corrected  in  another  way)  ; 
hut  his  displeasure,  as  Calvin  justl;  admitted,  arose 
from  a  common  littleness  of  mind  incident  to  hu- 
manity, which,  for  the  moment,  thought  only  of  his 
mortilied  honor  as  a  prophet ;  and  because  the  lie 
had  apparently  been  given  to  his  prediction,  he  en- 
tirely forgot  that  the  life  and  death  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  were  involved  in  its  fulfillment.  There 
u  no   intimation  in    the  text    that    he  envied  the 


heathen  the  divine  mercy  and  wished  the  destruc 
tion  of  Nineveh,  either  from  ardent  love  to  his 
people  (Hengstenberg),  or  from  a  wrong  notion 
of  God  (Keil  following  Luther),  though  such  a 
feeling  might  have  influenced  him  as  a  secondary 
motive.  Rather  his  notion  of  God  was  in  nowise 
perverted,  for  he  must  have  known  from  the  law 
[Torah]  (Ex.  xxxiv.  6),  and  he  did  know  (ver.  2), 
that  God  is  merciful  and  gracious,  i,ong-safferira) 
and  rich  in  mercy ;  and  the  whole  of  the  second 
verse  is  spoken  out  of  ill  humor  that  he  had  been 
sent,  not  with  the  object  of  delivering  a  prophecv 
that  was  to  be  fulfilled,  but  of  delivering  one  that 
was  revoked,  which  was  intended  as  a  means  of  re- 
pentance. 

As  above  i.  12,  so  also  here,  ver.  2.  Jonah's 
wrong  disposition  of  heart  does  not  prevent  his 
mouth  from  speaking  the  whole  truth  of  God. 
Office  and  word,  apart  from  the  person,  his  weak- 
nesses, and  sins,  are,  according  to  the  Scripture 
conception,  intimately  connected  with  one  another. 
(Compare  the  striking  example,  John  xi.  50  f.). 
Jonah,  it  is  said,  prayed  to  Jehovah.  "  Necesse 
est  in  hac  Jonie  precatione  aliquid  agnoscere  pietatis 
et  simul  multa  vitia."  ( Calvin. )  It  is  true  that  when 
he  fled  to  Tarshish  he  did  not  say  that  he  would 
not  prophesy  because  of  the  mercy  of  God  (comp. 
at  i.  3) ;  but  it  is  quite  human  to  palliate  an  orig- 
inally unreasonably  undertaken  step  by  motives 
drawn  from  wisdom  subsequently  acquired,  or 
from  fortunate  accident.  Therefore  I  antici- 
pated —  trpoe<pda(Ta,  LXX.  —  the  errand,  whose 
fruitlessness  1  foresaw,  and  fled  to  Tarshish. 
These,  of  course,  were  no.  his  words,  when  he  fled 
to  Tarshish,  that  he  was  unwilling  to  prophesy, 
because  of  the  mercy  of  God  (comp.  i.  3) ;  but  it 
is  human  nature  to  color  an  undertaking,  for 
which  originally  no  reasons  can  in  truth  be  as- 
signed, with  the  reasons  derived  from  a  mere  re- 
cently acquired  wisdom,  or  from  the  event.     The 

infinitive  with   7  is  gerundial.     The  phrase  "  it 
my  country,"  is  an  important  element  for  the  sjtB 


CHAPTER  IV. 


37 


bolical  interpretation  of  the  book.  (See  above,  p. 
5  ;  comp.  Jer.  lii.  27). 

As  in  chap.  3  the  fifth  Terse  gave  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  longer  statement  which  follows ;  so 
here  vers.  3,  4,  are  in  part  the  literal  quintessence 
of  the  following  detailed  account.  Vers.  5-7,  as 
a  commentary  to  be  added  by  way  of  supplement 
to  ver.  1  ff.  give  the  moving  cause  (Jonah,  to  wit, 
had,  etc.);  and  the  more  exact  psychological  un- 
derstanding of  ver.  3  results  from  ver.  8. 

The  non-consideration  of  the  forty  days  belongs 
to  the  symbolical  character  of  the  narrative,  which 
cares  more  for  the  essential  circumstances  than  for 
the  chronology ;  and,  in  any  case,  it  furnishes  no 
reason  to  assume  with  Keil,  that  ver.  1  tf.  should 
be  placed  within  the  forty  days  and  during  Jonah's 
6ojourn  in  the  city,  and  that  ver.  5  if.  should  be 
placed  after.  Jonah  was  certain  that  the  punish- 
ment was  revoked,  consequently  the  expiration  of 
the  time  is  presupposed  in  ver.  1  as  in  ver.  5  ;  and 
it  is  neither  probable  that  Jonah  should  wait  in 
the  city  for  the  threatened  destruction,  nor  that, 
after  the  completion  of  the  time,  within  which  the 
Spirit  had  instructed  him  to  announce  it,  he 
should  then  go  out  of  the  city  and  wait  for  it.  If 
Calvin  remarks  in  favor  of  the  latter  supposition. 
"  Etsi  enirn  preeterierant  quadraginta  dies,  Jonas 
tamen  quasi  constrictus  stetit,  quia  nondum  poterat 
statuere,  quod  prius  ex  mandato  Dei  protulerat  carere 
tuo  effectu,"  then,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  ob- 
served that  he  was  only  too  ready  to  maintain  the 

latter,  according  to  ver.  2,  and  that  the  "T37  ver. 
5,  "  till  he  might  see,"  indicates  a  state,  not  of  con- 
sternation, but  of  easy  expectation.  We  accord- 
ingly abide  by  the  rendering  of  ver.  4  in  the  plu- 
perfect tense,  the  grammatical  probability  ot  which 
even  Keil  cannot  deny,  and  the  necessity  of  which 
is  also  acknowledged  by  Starke,  Ch.  B.  Mich., 
Hitzig,  and  others ;  only  that  we  should  not  restrict 
the  same  to  ver.  4  exclusively,  but  extend  it  to  the 
verses  immediately  following  till  ver.  8. 

[Ver.  5.  "  This  verse  regarded  by  many  com- 
mentators as  a  supplementary  remark,  W^l,  with 
the  verbs  which  follow,  being  rendered  in  the  plu- 
perfect: 'Jonah  had  gone  out  of  the  city,'  etc. 
We  grant  that  this  is  grammatically  admissible, 
but  it  cannot  be  shown  to  be  necessary,  and  is  in- 
deed highly  improbable.  If,  for  instance,  Jonah 
went  out  of  Nineveh  before  the  expiration  of  the 
forty  days,  to  wait  for  the  fulfillment  of  his  proph- 
ecy, in  a  hut  to  the  east  of  the  city,  he  could  not 
have  been  angry  at  its  non-fulfillment  before  the 
time  arrived,  nor  could  God  have  reproved  him  for 
his  anger  before  that  time.  The  divine  correction 
of  the  dissatisfied  prophet,  which  is  related  in  vers. 
6-11,  cannot  have  taken  place  till  the  forty  days 
had  expired.  But  this  correction  is  so  closely 
connected  with  Jonah's  departure  from  the  city 
and  settlement  to  the  east  of  it,  to  wait  for  the 
final  decision  as  to  its  fate  (ver.  5),  that  we  cannot 
possibly  separate  it,  so  as  to  take  the  verbs  in  ver. 
5  as  pluperfects,  or  those  in  vers.  6-11  as  historical 
Imperfects.     There  is  no  valid  ground  for  so  forced 

an  assumption  as  this.    As  the  expression  37^*3 

1  ["  Augustine,  following  the  TiXX.  and  Syr.  versions,  was 
in  fevor  of  the  rendering  gourd,  which  was  adopted  by 
Lather,  the  A.  V.,  etc.  In  Jerome's  description  of  the  plant 
called  in  Syr.  karo,  and  Punic  el-keroa,  Celsius  recognizes 
the  Ricinns,  Palma  Christi,  or  castor-oil  plant  (Hierobot.,  ii 
873  ff. ;  Bochart,  Hieroz.,  ii.  293,  623).  The  Ricinus  was 
•een  by  Niebnhr  (Descript.  of  Arab.,  p.  148)  at  Bosra,  where 


~"J2,1',    'W   in  ch.  iv.  1,  which  is  appended  to  NT* 

""^27  in  ch.  iii.  10,  shows  that  Jonah  did  not  be- 
come irritated  and  angry  till  after  God  had  failed 
to  carry  out  his  threat  concerning  Nineveh,  and 
that  it  was  then  he  poured  out  his  discontent  in  t 
reproachful  prayer  to  God  (ver.  2),  there  is  noth- 
ing whatever  to  force  us  to  the  assumption  that 
Jonah  had  left  Nineveh  before  the  fortieth  day. 
Jonah  had  no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  perishing 
with  the  city.  If  he  had  faith,  which  we  cannot 
deny,  he  could  rely  upon  it  that  God  would  not 
order  him,  his  own  servant,  to  perish  with  the  un- 
godly, but  when  the  proper  time  was  arrived, 
would  direct  him  to  leave  the  city.  But  when 
forty  days  elapsed,  and  nothing  occurred  to  indi- 
cate the  immediate  or  speedy  fall  of  the  city,  and 
he  was  reproved  by  God  for  his  anger  on  that  ac 
count  in  these  words,  'Art  thou  rightly  or  justlj 
angry  ? '  the  answer  from  God  determined  him  to 
leave  the  city  and  wait  outside,  in  front  of  it,  to 
see  what  fate  would  befall  it.  For  since  this  an- 
swer still  left  it  open,  as  a  possible  thing,  that  the 
judgment  might  burst  upon  the  city,  Jonah  in- 
terpreted it  in  harmony  with  his  own  inclination, 
as  signifying  that  the  judgment  was  only  post- 
poned, not  removed,  and  therefore  resolved  to  wait 
in  a  hut  outside  the  city,  and  watch  for  the  issue 
of  the  whole  affair."     (Keil  and  Delitzsch.) 

Dr.  Pusey  is  inclined  to  Keil's  opinion.  Hen- 
derson, to  that  of  our  author.     Newcome  renders 

the  verbs,  ^~*1,  etc.,  ver.  5,  had  gone,  had  sat,  etc. 
—  C.  E.] 

But  Jonah  had  gone  out  of  the  city  and  had 
sat  down  east  of  the  city  —  on  one  of  the  moun- 
tains eastward,  which  border  on  the  valley  of  the 
Tigris,  from  which  the  city  spreads  out  over  the 
valley  to  the  river.  [Here  he  made  a  hut,  or  a 
booth,  and  sat  in  its  shade,  "  till  he  might  see 
what  would  become  of  the  city."  —  C.  E.] 

Ver.  6.  As  the  fish,  so  also  the  ricinus  plant 
obeyed  the  command  of  God :  He  appointed  it 
(Ps.  civ.  30).  The  kikayon1  is,  according  tc 
Hieronymus,  the  kiki  of  the  Egyptians  (Herod., 
ii.  94),  the  kik  of  the  Rabbins,  the  el-keroa  of  the 
Arabs,  the  K^6ra>v  of  the  Greeks.  Besides  Hier- 
onymus, Pliny,  h.  iv.  15,  7,  mentions  the  Ricinus 
plant,  which  grows  wild  in  Arabia,  Egypt,  and 
Syria,  and  shoots  up  rapidly  to  the  height  of  a 
tree.  It  has  at  first  a  herbaceous,  then  a  woody 
stem,  hollow  within,  full  of  knots  and  joints; 
large  petiolate,  peltate  leaves,  which,  according  to 
Niebuhr,  when  broken  off,  or  injured,  wither  in  a 
few  minutes,  and  which  are  moreover  liable  to 
perish  quickly,  from  the  fact  that,  in  a  gentle  rain, 

black  caterpillars,  or  worms  0*127  AP\,  ver.  7),  of 
a  middling  size,  are  produced  on  them,  which 
strip  the  plant  of  all  its  foliage  in  a  single  night. 
(Niebuhr,  Description  of  Arabia,  p.  148.  Rumpf, 
Herb.  Amboin,  iv.  95.)  Such  a  plant  God  caused 
to  shoot  up,  about  the  time  when  Jonah  was 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  fruitlessness  of  his 
waiting,  and  when  he  had  already  given  vent  to 

his  ill  humor  (ni7"1),  in  order  to  recover  him  from 

it  was  distinguished  by  the  name  el-keroa',  by  Rauwalf 
( Trav.,  p.  52),  it  was  noticed  in  great  abundance  near  Tripoli, 
where  the  Arabs  called  it  el-kerua ;  while  both  Hasselquist 
and  Robinson  observed  very  large  specimens  of  it  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Jericho  (!t  Ricinus  in  altitudinem  arborU 
insignis,"  Hasselq.,  p.  555 ;  see  also  Robins.,  i.  553).  SmithV 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  s.  v  «  Gourd."  —  C.  E.] 


38 


JONAH. 


his  discontent.1  ( V  instead  of  the  ace.  Ew.,  sec. 
292  e.). 

This  succeeds.  To  his  great  petulance,  ver.  1, 
eoon  succeeds  great  joy. 

Ver.  7.  A  worm  (the  sing,  used  collectively,  as 
in  Dent,  xxviii.  39),  comes  at  the  command  of 
God,  during  the  night  —  at  the  rising  of  the  sun, 
next  morning.  (Comp.  Gen.  xix.  15,23.)  And 
it  smote,  destroyed  (Am.  iv.  9)  the  plant,  so  that 
it  withered.  And  as  if  this  were  not  enough, 
God,  to  attain  his  disciplinary  purpose  with  Jonah, 
appointed,  in  the  third  place,  ver.  8,  the  silent,  that 
is,  the  deadly  sultry  east  wind,  whose  scorching 
beat  is  proverbial  throughout  the  Old  Testament 
(Ez.  xvii.  10).  The  glowing  heat  of  the  sun  beat 
upon  Jonah,  so  that  he  fainted  (Amos  viii.  13), 
was  out  of  his  mind.  Then  were  suggested  those 
petulant  words,  that  we  have  already  heard,  ver.  3  : 
he  wished  in  himself  to  die,  literally,  he  asked 
as  to  his  soul  to  die  (ace.  c.  inf.  1  Kings  xix.  4; 
Is.  liii.  10;  Ew.,  sec.  336  b),  and  said,  it  is  better 
for  me  to  die  than  to  live.  Ch.  B.  Mich. :  "  Prce- 
stat  me  mori,  quam  sic  vivere." 

Ver.  9.  And  God  said  to  Jonah :  Dost  thou 
right  to  be  angry  for  the  gourd  ?  namely,  on 

account  of  its  destruction.  Dt^rTH  is  not  used 
adverbially  (Keil),  but  as  an  auxiliary  construed 
with  the  impersonal  3  sing,  mn  (comp.  Deut. 
/.  25).  The  short  question  :  Dost  thou  well  to  be 
angry  1  comprised  within  itself,  by  aposiopesis  at 
ver.  3  above,  the  whole  dialogue,  vers.  9-1 1  ;  here 
it  is  analyzed  into  its  elements. 

Jonah  answers  :  I  do  right  to  be  angry,  even 
unto  death,  that  is,  to  the  bottom  of  my  soul, 
even  to  weariness  of  life.  (Comp.  Matt.  xxvi. 
38.)  God  now  convicted  him  from  his  own  words 
(comp.  Matt.  xii.  37  ;  Luke  xix.  22),  how  wrong 
was  his  whole  anger,  in  which  this  momentary 
vexation  only  forms  an  element  with  a  fresh  stim- 
ulus, but  which  had  its  origin  in  the  sparing  of 
Nineveh,  by  a  conclusion  a  minori  ad  majus. 

Ver  10.  Thou  art  grieved  for  the  gourd, 
for  which  thou  hast  not  labored  ....  and 
perished.  Bin-lailah,  a  son  of  the  night,  of  a 
night's  duration.  (Comp.  Ex.  xii.  5,  and  the 
Syriac  translation  of  Deut.  xxiv.  15.)  It  is  evi- 
dent from  ver.  10,  why  a  rapidly  growing  plant 
should  shoot  up  over  Jonah.  If  it  had  been  of 
slow  growth,  he  would  have  watered  and  nursed 
it ;  consequently  the  reproof  would  not  have  been 

so  forcible.  L]3  instead  of  ?j?  on  account  of  the 
following  liquids.  Num.  xiv.  38.] 

Ver.  11.  And  should  not  I  .  .  .  .  who  can- 
not distinguish  between  the  right  hand  and 

the  left  ( W*  sensu  prcegnanti,  as  in  2  Sam.  xix. 
36  [35  A.  V.]),  who  cannot  consequently  be  very 
guilty ;  and  besides  much  cattle,  which  are  not 
guilty  at  all,  and  which  are  of  much  greater  worth 
than  a  ricinus  plant?  By  the  120,000  mentioned 
in  the  relative  clause,  must  be  understood  young 
children  (comp.  Is.  vii.  15).  The  limit  of  this 
period  of  life,  in  the  East  (e.  g.,  among  the  Per- 
sians), is  usually  the  seventh  year.     If  we  assume 

1  That  nyi  has   reference    to    the   ill    humor  of  the 

T     T 

prophet  ver.  1,  is,  considering  the  simple  tenor  of  the  nar- 
rative, which  does  not  hinder  that  ver.  5  ff.  must  be  con- 
sidered as  preceding  ver.  1,  most  probable.  We  cannot 
well  think  of  the  phy8:cal  illness  produced  by  the  glow  inn 
hea:  Df  the  Ban:  the  sufllx  points  too  definitely  to  an  al- 
(wady  known  evil.     It  wou'  1  ritiier  be  possible  to  view  the 


the  ratio,  fixed  by  statistics,  of  those  under  seven 
years  of  age  to  the  whole  number  of  the  popula 
don  as  1  :  5,  we  have  for  all  Nineveh  the  not  im- 
probable number  of  600,000  inhabitants.  This 
would  give,  as  in  the  province  of  Naples,  40,000 
persons  to  the  square  [German]  mile  (comp.  at  i. 
2).  The  English  Admiral  Jones,  from  a  survey 
of  the  extent  of  the  ruins,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  statement  in  this  verse,  has  estimated 
the  population  of  the  city,  at  about  the  same  num- 
ber. (Comp.  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society,  vol. 
xv.  p.  29.  M.  v  Niebuhr,  Assyria  and  Babulon,  p. 
278  f.)  "       * 

DOCTRINAL   AND  ETHICAL.* 
See  Introduction,  p.  6. 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Jonuh,  a  type  of  the  misery  and  vanity  of  the  hu- 
man heart.     (Homily). 

1 .  The  impatience  of  the  human  heart  compared 
with  the  long-suffering  of  God.  When  God  for- 
gives, it  is  angry.  When  God  is  patient,  it  is  im- 
patient, ver.  1.  And  yet  Jonah,  too,  was  saved  onl  r- 
by  grace. 

2.  The  idea  of  its  own  honor  compared  with  the 
great  heart  of  God,  who  readily  foregoes  his  own 
honor,  when  the  salvation  of  men  is  concerned  (iii. 
10).  But  Jonah  would  have  preferred  that  all  men 
should  perish,  that  his  office  and  vocation  should 
be  relinquished,  to  the  mortification  of  the  idea  of 
his  own  honor,  ver.  2,  a. 

3.  Its  bitterness  compared  with  the  kindness  of 
God.  God  speaks  comfort;  but  the  human  heart 
extracts  irom  his  consolatory  words  a  sting, ver.  2,  b. 

4.  And  so  inconsiderate  is  the  human  heart  of 
the  most  precious  gifts,  even  of  life  itself,  that  on 
account  of  the  empty  shadow  of  honor,  it  even 
thinks  that  it  should  despise  its  own  life,  ver.  3 
But  how  seriously  does  God  speak  of  death. 

5.  In  short,  how  little  can  the  heart,  notwithstand- 
ing all  instruction,  dive  into  the  deep  thoughts  of 
God !  And  yet,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  always  ready 
to  maintain  that  it  is  right,  against  God,  vers.  1-3. 

6.  In  such  miserable  selfishness,  it  is  destitute  of 
all  love,  and  lurks  for  the  ruin  of  others ;  it  wishes 
that  others  should  be  judged  and  judges  them  it- 
self; but  it  does  not  like  to  judge  itself. 

7.  It  always  has  only  real  pleasure  in  that  which 
happens  to  its  advantage  ;  and  should  it  be  some- 
thing of  the  most  trifling  importance,  it  is  more 
highly  prized  by  it  than  all  the  great  mercy  vouch- 
safed to  others,  vers.  6,  7. 

8.  Therefore,  is  life  full  of  misery.  For  these 
short  pleasures,  on  account  of  which  we  neglect  the 
eternal  good,  soon  come  to  an  end.  And  we  do  not 
afterward  think  that  they  were  favors  for  which  we 
ought  to  be  thankful,  however  transient  they  may 
have  been  ;  but  imagine  that  thoy  were  our  own, 
that  we  had  a  right  to  them  and  therefore  a  right 
to  complain,  ver.  8.  And  what  bitter  complaints  ! 
2  Cor.  iv.  17. 

9.  And  if  God's  ways  are  ever  so  clear  before 
our  eyes,  yet  our  eyes  are  closed  that  we  cannot 

matter,  in  such  a  way  that  the  whole  perverted  condition 
of  the  prophet's  soul  is  meant  by  n27~l,  which  God  in- 
tended to  cure  by  means  of  the  ricinus,  or  rather  by  th« 
lesson  connected  with  its  with^rin?.  By  this  the  difficulty 
mentioned  before  would  also  be  solved. 

J  [  H, ichfgtdanlcen      S*«  note,  p.  20.  —  ('.  E-l 


CHAPTER  IV. 


sy 


perceive  them,  and  we  will  continually  grope  in 
darkness,  unless  God  open  our  eyes  by  his  spirit, 
*ers.  9-11. 

Ver.  1 .  Here  we  see  how  it  would  be,  if  God 
would  allow  each  one  his  own  will.  It  is  well  that 
He  alone  sits  at  the  helm.  God's  messengers  are  in 
great  danger  of  forgetting  that  they  are  messengers 
and  that  they  act  merely  under  authority.  The  sin- 
ful heart  is  ever  ready  to  act  the  Lord,  and  it  won- 
ders when  it  is  forsaken  by  God.  —  Ver.  2.  There 
are  even  wicked  prayers.  It  is  not  a  mark  of  piety, 
therefore,  to  disburden  one's  heart  before  God,  but 
to  pray  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  according  to  the  pat- 
tern of  Luke  xxii.  42.  Man  is  always  eloquent  in 
exculpating  himself.  If  the  heart  is  in  a  wrong 
state,  it  distorts  God's  Word,  and  applies  it  ac- 
cording to  its  own  pleasure. —  Ver.  3.  Suppose 
the  Lord  had  taken  Jonah  at  his  word  ?  How  in- 
considerately does  a  man  speak,  who  does  not 
bridle  his  tongue.  The  sorrow  of  the  world  works 
death.  —  Ver.  5.  Some  say  that  God,  out  of  re- 
spect to  his  justice,  has  delight  in  viewing  the 
punishment  of  the  lost;  that  Abraham  also,  when 
Lazarus  lay  in  his  bosom,  reveled  in  God's  pleas- 
ure in  the  torment  of  the  rich  man.  These  look 
upon  God  and  Abraham  in  the  same  light  that 
they  do  upon  the  prophet  Jonah.  (Luke  ix.  55.) 
His  heart  even  breaks  for  the  souls  of  the  con- 
demned, and  if  they  would  be  saved,  He  would 
save  them.  (Matt.  xii.  31.)  —  Ver.  6.  The  crea- 
ture was  made  for  men  ;  and  the  death  of  the  crea- 
ture is,  in  every  way,  instructive  to  men  To  a 
heart  devoid  of  peace,  the  good  gifts  of  God  are 
only  a  source  of  vexation.  —  Ver.  7.  "  When  the 
morning  rose "  !  Often,  at  the  moment  when 
every  thing  seems  to  smile,  misfortune  is  on  the 
way.  With  the  rising  star  of  fortune  comes  also 
always  a  misfortune,  even  though  we  do  not  see  it 
at  the  moment.  Hence  the  injunction  to  be  always 
prepared,  always  humble. —  Ver.  11.  At  first 
sight,  it  appears  as  if  common  guilt  and  sin  were 
denied  in  this  verse,  since  God  speaks  of  the  chil- 
dren, as  if  they,  like  the  cattle,  did  not  deserve 
punishment.  But  He  says  only  that  the  severe 
punishment,  which  Jonah  expected,  was  not  de- 
served by  these  relatively  to  many  others,  whose 
death  Jonah  himself  would  not  desire.  The  fact 
that  the  Ninevites  were  spared  on  account  of  their 
repentance,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  reprove 
him  for  this  (Ez.  xviii.  23) ;  but  God  would  bring 
before  the  eyes  of  Jonah  his  uncharitableness  in 
that  he  did  not  consider  the  relatively  innocent 
and  harmless  creatures  in  his  blind  zeal  to  see  vile 
sinners  perish.  The  Scriptures  have  regard  for 
beasts  also.  (Deut.  xxii.  6 ;  Rom.  viii.  18  ff.)  These 
have  no  part  in  the  sin  of  man,  but  in  his  punish 
ment.  As  they  appear  here  by  their  participation 
in  the  repentance  of  the  Ninevites,  so  at  other 
times,  in  the  Old  Testament,  they  appear  by  their 
blood  for  the  curse  of  sin.  Yet  this  is  only  a 
shadow  of  things  to  come. 

Luther  :  How  can  such  a  state  of  grace  and 
such  untoward  conduct  in  Jonah  be  consistent 
with  one  another  1  We  cannot  deny  that  he  was 
unreasonably  angry,  and  did  wrong,  for  God  pun- 
ished him  for  it.  We  must  also  acknowledge  that 
be  had  faith  and  was  acceptable  to  God,  because 
God  spoke  so  kindly  with  him  and  gave  him  a  sign. 
We  should  observe  from  these  facts  (1)  how  won- 
derfully God  deals  with  his  saints,  so  that  no  one 
may  inconsiderately  judge  or  condemn  anyone  on 
account  of  works  alone.  (2.)  We  should  learn,  how 
God  permits  his  dear  children  to  act  very  foolishly 
»nd  commit  grave  faults,  as  Christ  did  with  the 


Apostles,  in  the  Gospel,  for  the  consolation  of  all  be- 
lievers who  sometimes  sin  and  fall.  (3.)  We  should 
see  how  kindly,  fatherly,  and  amiably  God  deals  with 
and  treats  those,  who  confide  in  Him  in  trouble. 
It  is  a  daily  sinning  on  the  part  of  his  children, 
which  the  Father  graciously  suffers.  With  the 
ungodly  He  does  not  deal  thus :  they  cannot 
reconcile  themselves  to  his  dealings,  but  are  alto- 
gether insolent  and  intractable. 

Starke  :  Ver.  1.  Even  well-meaning  minds  can 
fall  into  an  indiscreet  zeal  for  God  and  criticise  his 
wise  government  according  to  their  weak  and  sor- 
did ideas,  although  they  do  not  break  out  into 
open  murmurs  against  Him.  —  Ver.  2.  To  excuse 
sin,  which  deserves  punishment,  is  presumptuous- 
ness.  —  Ver  3.  There  is  a  great  difference  between 
a  well-regulated  desire  for  a  happy  departure  from 
this  world  and  one  that  is  inordinate  and  self- 
willed,  which  arises  from  impatience,  and,  alas 
often  enters  into  well-disposed  minds. — Ver.  4 
As  often  as  thou  art  provoked  to  be  angry,  ask 
thyself  at  once,  am  1  justly  angry  ?  Teacheri 
should  be  moderate  in  their  zeal  and  seek  to  re- 
store the  erring  by  friendly  words:  the  example 
of  God  admonishes  them  to  this. —  Ver.  6.  God 
has  always  been  accustomed  to  guide  men  by  ex- 
ternal things  and  visible  signs  to  the  consideration 
of  heavenly  things.  Hieronymus  hits  upon  the 
thought  that  the  Jewish  people,  who  have  sat 
under  the  shadow  of  ordinances  and  ceremonies 
are  hereby  represented.  —  Ver.  7.  Even  the  very 
least  animals  must  serve  the  powerful  government 
of  God. —  Ver.  8.  We  must  not  be  too  much  de- 
lighted by  our  success  nor  too  much  distressed  by 
our  misfortune.  —  Ver.  9.  One  must  really  be 
astonished  at  God's  love  to  men,  manifested  in  his 
patience  with  his  servants.  Jonah  is  nothing  else  but 
a  little,  naughty,  spoiled  child. —  Ver.  10.  God  has 
pity  upon  little  children.  He  loves  them  tenderly, 
numbers  them  exactly,  and  oftentimes  spares  old 
people  on  their  account,  whom  He  would  otherwise 
destroy  on  account  of  their  sins.  Did  God  love 
the  little  children  in  Nineveh  so  well,  and  was 
He  pleased  to  spare  the  city  oil  their  account,  then 
how  can  he  reject  those,  who  are  born  in  Christen- 
dom, but  die  without  baptism  ? 

Pfaff  :  Ver.  1.  Men  are  much  more  wrathful 
and  vindictive  than  God ;  for  God  soon  repents  of 
the  punishment,  provided  men  comply  with  the 
condition  of  repentance. — Ver.  4.  Even  prophets 
commit  faults.  Guard  thyself  against  impatience, 
and  learn  composedness  and  self-denial.  Nothing 
adorns  the  conduct  more,  than  entire  self-abnega- 
tion and  submission  to  the  will  of  the  Lord,  com- 
bined with  efforts  to  accomplish  it.  What  a 
dreadful  thing  ambition  is  !  To  wish  rather  to  die 
than  to  be  humbled !  It  must  not  be  so,  but  thou 
must  willingly  bow  and  humble  thyself,  if  God's 
honor  is  thereby  advanced. — Ver.  8.  Let  no  one 
wish  for  death  from  a  desire  to  escape  the  cross. 

Quandt  :  Ver.  1.  There  is  joy  among  the  an- 
gels of  God  over  one  sinner  that  repents ;  among 
us  there  is  joy  at  the  success  of  the  mission  ;  with. 
Jonah  there  is  indignation.  This  did  not  arise 
from  the  circumstance  that  the  repentance  of  Nin- 
eveh was  not  sincere  and  honest ;  but  Jonah's  own 
repentance  was  not  sincere.  He  had  retained  the 
principal  part  of  his  old  man  at  his  conversion.  — 
Ver.  3.  Even  other  holy  men  have  had  such  dark 
hours.  (Num.  xi.  15;  Job  vii.  15  f. ;  1  Kinga 
xix.)  Notwithstanding  Jonah's  preaching  had  the 
proper  effect.  The  faith  of  the  preacher  does  not 
work  faith  in  the  hearers,  but  the  preaching  ot 
faith.  —  Ver.  5.     The  word  of  God,  ver.  4,  waa  de 


40 


JONAH. 


signed  to  convince  the  prophet  of  how  little  reason 
there  was  for  his  anger ;  but  it  had  exactly  the 
opposite  effect.  He  explained  it  in  his  own  favor  ; 
as  if  God  meant  to  say  :  Wait  yet  a  little ;  and  he 
goes  forth  to  wait.  The  piety  of  the  heathen  is  a 
matter  of  total  indifference  to  him,  but  curiosity 
and  a  mischievous  delight  in  the  miseries  of  others 
abide  with  him.  This  is  instructive  to  Christians 
in  their  relation  to  the  missionary  cause.  —  Ver.  8. 
Before,  Jonah  was  angry  at  God's  mercy ;  now  he 
is  angry  at  his  seeming  unmercifulness.  This  is 
a  movement  in  the  right  direction  There  is  in- 
struction connected  with  this.  —  Ver.  1 1 .  The  old, 
obstinate  Jonah  has  displayed  himself  enough  in 
this  book  ;  now,  at  the  close,  he  vanishes,  and  God, 
in  the  end,  stands,  with  his  word,  alone  and  ma- 
jestic :  the  new  Jonah  is  lost  in  Him. 

March.  :  Ver.  1 .  Although  all  the  works  of 
God  are  entirely  irreprehensible,  yet  there  is  not 
one  among  them,  which  may  not  be  censured  by 
some  one ;  and  the  degree  of  censure  is  in  propor- 
tion to  the  want  of  understanding  on  the  part  of 
the  fault-finder. 

Rieger  :  Before  we  find  fault  with  Jonah,  we 
should  consider  well  first  what  would  be  the  result 
if  we  were  to  describe  our  thoughts  and  feelings 
concerning  many  events  in  the  government  of  God 
as  frankly  as  Jonah  does  here.  The  worst  is  that 
our  wickedness  remains  hidden  in  us,  and  we  con- 
ceal it  from  ourselves  and  others.  We  must  also 
judge  Jonah  according  to  his  times  and  tempta- 
tions ;  for  it  could  easily  be  that  a  man  of  God 
should  have  little  regard  for  the  heathen,  since 
Peter,  in  New  Testament  times,  had  to  be  in- 
structed concerning  them.  Moreover  the  solicitude 
that  the  Ninevites,  inexperienced  in  the  ways  of 
God,  might  turn  his  long  suffering  into  contempt 
and  despise  his  threatenings,  was  not  unfounded. 
In  our  estimate  in  general  of  the  faults  and  offenses 
of  others,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  God 
knows  how  our  temper  exposes  us  on  the  one  hand 
to  peculiar  temptations,  but  also  on  the  other 
makes  us  useful  for  some  purpose ;  hence  no  one 
should  cling  to  the  defects  of  others,  but  should  in 
advance  turn  to  good  account  the  good  qualities 
with  which  they  are  endowed.  The  vehement  dis- 
position of  Jonah  had  plunged  him  into  these 
faults,  but  what  useful  purpose  this  very  disposi- 
tion served  in  his  office,  must  not  be  forgotten. 
That  is  a  wicked  art  of  our  hearts,  of  which  Sol- 
omon says,  The  sluggard  is  wiser  in  his  own  con- 
ceit, than  seven  men  that  can  render  a  reason  : 
namely  he  who  never  undertakes  anything,  com- 
mits, after  his  way  of  thinking,  fewer  faults,  and  is 
well  pleased  with  his  own  conceit. 

Burck  :  Ver.  2.  Thou  hast  not  to  consider 
what  God  will  accomplish  by  thee,  or  without  thee, 
but  what  He  requires  of  thee  and  what  becomes 
thee.  God  bears  with  much  murmuring  and  impa- 
tience on  the  part  of  his  servants.  —  Ver.  3.  Jonah 
did  not  pr*y  for  the  destruction  of  the  Ninevites, 


but  for  his  own  death.  They  are  the  readiest  to  -ic 
this,  who  know  least  the  severity  of  God  in  'he 
sentence  of  death.  But  Jonah  has  already  endared 
a  tenfold  death  in  the  sea.  And  now  zeal  for  nis 
office  and  for  the  honor  attached  to  it  by  God 
presses  upon  him  to  such  a  degree  that  he  wishes 
rather  to  die  than  to  live.  But  God  can  require 
an  offering  from  us  such  as  He  pleases  :  He  did 
not  now  require  the  surrender  of  Jonah's  life,  but 
a  patient  waiting  ;  and  therefore  Jonah  found  an- 
other kind  of  death  and  of  a  more  salutary  sort, 
than  if  God  had  taken  his  life  away  [in  answer 
to  his  prayer]. —  Ver.  6.  The  best  way  to  refute 
a  murmurer  consists  not  in  arguments,  but  in 
deeds. 

March  :  God  does  not  always  lead  sinners  in 
the  same  manner  to  the  right  way;  but  at  one 
time  by  severe  chastisements,  at  another  by  kind- 
ness in  word,  or  deed. 

Cocceids  :  We  always  think  that  our  affliction 
is  something  sacred,  and  yet  it  is  often  worldly; 
for  how  often  are  we  obliged  to  see  that  it  is  miti- 
gated by  worldly  consolation  ! 

Rieger  :  Ver.  7  ff.  With  others  we  often 
think  that  a  word  and  a  remonstrance  should  be 
enough ;  but  in  our  case  we  experience,  that  we 
first  became  acquainted  with  ourselves  under  the 
actual  dispensations  of  God,  and  thus  too  are  made 
thoroughly  healthy.  Such  is  the  vanity  of  our 
heart  that  it  can  be  made  glad  and  be  troubled 
about  trifling  things.  And  yet  God  uses  this  ex- 
perience in  us  as  a  means  of  discipline.  If  we  are 
too  much  delighted  with  a  gourd,  He  knows  that 
nothing  more  than  a  worm-hole  is  required  to 
sober  us  again. 

Burck  :  Ver.  11.  The  book  begins  and  closes 
with  the  words  of  God.  Jonah  is  silent,  and  imi- 
tates, without  doubt,  the  example  of  Job.  (Job 
xl.  3  f.) 

[Matthew  Henry  :  Ver.  1 .  Jonah  was  mirab- 
ilis  homo,  as  one  calls  him,  an  amazing  man ;  the 
strangest,  oddest,  and  most  out-of-the-way  man, 
for  a  good  man  and  a  prophet,  as  one  shall  ever 
hear  or  read  of. 

Puset  :  Ver.  2.  Jonah,  at  least,  did  not  mur- 
mur or  complain  of  God.  He  complained  to  God 
of  himself.  —  Ver.  3.  Impatient  though  he  was, 
he  still  cast  himself  upon  God.  By  asking  of  God 
to  end  his  life,  he,  at  least,  committed  himself  to 
the  sovereign  disposal  of  God. 

Keil  :  Children  who  cannot  distinguish  between 
right  and  left,  cannot  distinguish  good  from  evil, 
and  are  not  yet  accountable. 

Cowles  :  Ver.  2.  It  is  awful  that  a  sinner, 
plucked  himself  as  a  brand  from  the  burning,  and 
living  on  mercy  alone,  should  object  to  God's 
showing  the  same  mercy  to  his  fellow  sinners. — 
Ver.  11.  Who  can  estimate  the  amount  of  sparing 
mercy  which  the  guilty  of  our  world  owe,  in  this 
life,  to  God's  pity  for  infants  and  for  the  sentient 
but  unsinning  animal  rates  ?  —  C  E.] 


Date  Due 


i-  - 


V 


